Authorities said a man armed with a bow shot arrows at shoppers in a tiny Norwegian town on Wednesday, killing five people before being apprehended.
The police chief in Kongsberg, near Oslo, said officers and the assailant had “a confrontation,” although the nature of the alleged altercation was not detailed.
The suspect was later revealed to be a 37-year-old Danish citizen, who had recently converted to Islam. Officials said he may have been radicalized. The suspect was identified as one Espen Andersen Brathen.
Brathen is now in custody and the police are reportedly not looking for more people involved in the incident. Police believe that the man was acting alone. Two other individuals were injured and are in intensive care, including an off-duty cop who was inside a store where the incident occurred.
The incident was described as “gruesome” by Acting Prime Minister Erna Solberg, who added that it was too early to guess a possible motive for the attack. In comments to Norwegian news agency NTB, Prime Minister-designate Jonas Gahr Stoere, who is set to assume office on Thursday, termed the attack a terrible and horrible crime.
Around 6:15 p.m., police were informed of the attack, and the assailant was apprehended just half an hour later. The town is located around 66 kilometers (41 miles) southwest of Oslo.
The culprit, according to police, went about downtown Kongsberg firing arrows. Officers said there were multiple crime sites, but declined to comment on allegations that the suspect used a crossbow instead of a bow and arrow during all of the attacks.
Officials from the town encouraged those who had been impacted by the incident, as well as their families, to assemble at a local hotel to provide support.
Norway has a low rate of violent crimes and mass shootings or attacks. The worst ever recorded happened on July 22, 2011, when a right-wing terrorist named Anders Breivik detonated a bomb in Oslo, murdering eight people. Before he was arrested, Breivik hid in Utoya Island, where he stalked and killed 69 members of the Labor Party’s youth branch, mostly teenagers.
Breivik was given the maximum penalty under Norwegian law of 21 years in jail, although his sentence can be prolonged as long as he is deemed a risk to society.