Norway examines police treatment in bow and arrow attack | KWKT
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HELSINKI (AP) -Norwegian authorities have commissioned an independent investigation into the activities of police and security agencies following a bow-arrow attack that killed five people and injured three in the city of Kongsberg this week.
Norway’s domestic intelligence service, known by the acronym PST, said on Saturday that it had decided to apply for a review after consulting the country’s national and regional police commanders. A 37-year-old Kongsberg resident who, according to police, admitted Wednesday night’s murders is under psychiatric evaluation.
“Given the seriousness of the matter, it is very important that learning points and potential weaknesses and errors are quickly identified so that action can be taken immediately,” PST said in a statement.
Norwegian media have questioned how long it took officials to apprehend suspect Espen Andersen Braathen after regional police received reports of a man firing arrows at the supermarket. According to the police timeline, the first data will be recorded at 18.13 and Andersen Braathen was arrested at 18.47
According to police officials, the first police officers who arrived at the scene spotted the suspect, but took shelter and demanded additional forces when arrows were fired at them. Authorities have acknowledged that an armed suspect escaped and likely killed five victims between the ages of 50 and 70 outdoors and in some apartments.
Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl, who took office on Thursday alongside the rest of Norway’s new left-wing government, has not commented on the police’s handling of the threat.
“Now it is important that the police get an investigation and investigate the matter thoroughly,” he told Swedish broadcaster SVT on Saturday.
Authorities said Saturday that injured people, one of whom was a police officer who struck while he was away from work in a supermarket, have all been released from the hospital.
Senior police officer Per Thomas Omholt said at a news conference on Friday that the attack used three weapons, including a bow and arrow, but refused to identify the type or reveal how five victims were killed, saying investigators needed to interview more witnesses and did not want their reports affected in the news.
Omholt said investigators continued to investigate possible motives or causes of the attack as of Friday, but their “strongest hypothesis about the motive is disease.” His “health has deteriorated,” the officer said as he refused to provide details.
Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported on Friday that domestic intelligence service PST received information about Andersen Braathen in 2015 and was interviewed by agents in 2017 to find out if he posed a threat. The following year, the agency contacted the Norwegian health authorities and found that he was suffering from a serious mental illness, NRK said.
The Norwegian newspaper VG said the agency also thought Andersen Braathen could carry out a “small-scale attack by simple means in Norway”. PST did not comment on the report.