Norway killings: The laughing gunman who shot 85 young victims, one by one
Victims lie near the shoreline of Utoya Island, Norway, approximately one hour after the atrocity Photo: AP
The right-wing extremist who shot dead at least 85 people at a youth camp laughed, cheered and shouted “you all must die” as he sprayed the youngsters with bullets.
By Nick Meo, Harriet Alexander in Oslo and Robert Mendick 12:51AM BST 24 Jul 2011
The full horror of Anders Behring Breivik’s killing rampage emerged on Saturday as Norway entered a period of national mourning.
The country’s prime minister said Breivik had turned a “paradise into hell”.
The 32-year-old Norwegian was being interrogated by police on Saturday night amid growing concern that he may not have acted alone. Police were poring through his home computer for links to other extremists and terrorist groups.
The killer set off a massive car bomb on Friday afternoon in the centre of Oslo’s political district, killing seven people.
He then drove to the island of Utoya where he continued his rampage.
The confirmed death toll on the island yesterday was 85. However, police said last night the final total could rise to 98 as the search for missing teenagers continued.
His defence lawyer Geir Lippestad last night said of Breivik: “He has said that he believed the actions were atrocious, but that in his head they were necessary.”
On Saturday night a video emerged in which the killer, posing with weapons, appears to set out his motivation for the attacks, calling for the eradication of Islam and Marxism from Europe.
Breivik shot several teenagers as they tried to swim off the island to safety. Police teams were searching the water and rocky inlets looking for more corpses.
A mini-submarine was called in to help the search for bodies, along with divers.
Survivors told how they hid under bunk beds, behind rocks and in cabins as Breivik, dressed as a police officer, beckoned the youths to him, promising them safety. Youngsters who fell for his ploy were shot in cold blood. Survivors told how they had heard people plead for mercy. Thorbjørn Vereide, 22, who ran away and hid in a cave, said: “He seemed very focused. He took his time and picked victims out one by one. People lay on the ground, and he went over them and shot them in the back. He shot them all twice to make sure they were dead.
“He kept shouting: ‘It’s safe to come out. You’ll be saved. I’m a cop.’”
Nicoline Bjerge Schie, 21, who cowered behind a rock near the beach, said: “I could not see the gunman but I heard him screaming and laughing and he gave several cheers.”
She watched at least five of her friends being hit by the gunman’s bullets and watched as the bodies tumbled off the rock and into the lake.
Adrian Pracon, 21, who was shot in the shoulder, said from his hospital bed: “He was yelling out that he was going to kill us all and that we all must die.” Mr Pracon played dead but survived.“He tried everyone, he kicked them to see if they were alive, or he just shot them,” he said.
Erik Kursetgjerde, an 18-year-old Labour Party youth member, said Breivik “would tell people to come over: ‘It’s OK, you’re safe, we’re coming to help you.’ And then I saw about 20 people come towards him and he shot them at close range.”
Edvard Foernes, 16, said the gunman walked through the camp, saying: “Come out and play with me. Don’t be shy.”
Rescuers told of the agonising decisions they had to make as they headed to the island in boats to collect children trying to swim to safety.
Torill Hansen, who was camping nearby, said: “I could only take 10 people in the boat and even with that many it was nearly capsizing. Having to decide who to take was horrible.”
Breivik surrendered to an armed, specialist police unit which said it had arrived on the scene about 40 minutes after being called out by youngsters at the camp, organised by the youth wing of Norway’s ruling Labour Party. By then, Breivik, who had two guns when he was arrested, had been shooting for 90 minutes without anybody able to stop him.
Breivik, who surrendered without firing a shot, had undergone military training as part of his compulsory national service and held licences for two weapons including a Glock semi-automatic pistol.
He was also a member of Oslo’s Masonic lodge and posted pictures of himself on the internet in the masonic regalia.
A keen body builder and gun enthusiast, he had held several positions in one of Norway’s biggest political parties, the Right-wing Progress Party, from 1999 to 2007.
His views had become increasingly extreme in recent years and he had been seen by neighbours wearing paramilitary uniform.
Writing on the internet, he cited his hatred for Muslims and enthusiasm for the English Defence League. On the social networking site Twitter Breivik posted a quote on July 17 by the English philosopher John Stuart Mill: “One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests.”
It emerged on Saturday he had run a farming business and only 10 weeks ago had bought six tons of artificial fertiliser, which he is believed to have used to make the car bomb that was detonated in Oslo’s political district.
The suppliers thought nothing of selling such an amount to a farm businessman. After the bomb exploded, it appears Breivik drove a silver-grey van to Utoya. The van, recovered by police on Saturday, also contained explosives.
Acting Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim said: “It’s very difficult at this point to say if he was acting alone or if he was part of a larger network.”
Police have refused to name the victims but said two members of the government were killed in the blast. Norway’s royal family and prime minister led the nation in mourning on Saturday, visiting grieving relatives of the dead youths.
Oslo Cathedral became home to a makeshift shrine with hundreds going there to lay flowers and light candles.
Fighting back the tears, Jens Stoltenberg, the prime minister, said: “It was a paradise of my youth that has now been turned into hell.”
King Harald said: “I’m horrified at the rising toll of fatalities. In the midst of this all we have seen a prime minister handling the situation in a remarkable way.”
Eyewitness: Norwegian massacre 'like a Nazi movie' July 23, 2011 [...] "He stood first 10 metres from me and shooting at people in the water. He had a M16, it did look like a machine gun. When I saw him from the side yelling that he was about to kill us, he looked like he were taken from a Nazi-movie or something." - shooting victim Adrian Pracon [...] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-23/norway-in-quotes/2807306
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Norway suspect tells attorney that attacks were 'necessary,' newspaper reports
Police search for evidence and potential bombs at the farm rented by suspect Anders Behring Breivik in the small rural region of Rena, Norway. (Cathal McNaughton / Reuters / July 23, 2011)
Anders Behring Breivik acknowledged to his lawyer that he was responsible for both terrorist attacks, reports the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang.
By Ann Simmons Los Angeles Times Staff Writer July 23, 2011, 3:50 p.m.
Anders Behring Breivik, the suspect in Norway's twin terrorist attacks, has acknowledged that he was responsible for both criminal acts but told his lawyer that "it was necessary," according to the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang.
"He has stated that it was cruel that he had to perform these actions, but in his mind it was necessary," defense attorney Geir Lippestad told reporters as he left the police station late Saturday night, reported the newspaper, commonly known as VG.
According to VG, the lawyer was clearly affected by his conversation with Breivik and said it was difficult "to give a reasonable explanation as to why someone kills close to 100 innocent people."
Breivik told Lippestad that he would provide further explanation when they meet again on Sunday, the paper reported.
Lippestad said he thought carefully about his decision to represent Breivik when asked to do so by the Oslo police Saturday, but he concluded that it is "an important democratic principle that everyone, even in a case like this, is entitled to a defense," VG quoted him as saying.
Breivik is scheduled to be arraigned in Oslo city court on Monday.
Utøya, the island paradise turned into hell by Anders Behring Breivik
Covered corpses on the shores of Utøya. Anders Behring Breivik ordered youngsters to gather around him, then fired indiscriminately and later executed survivors. Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters
Playing dead did not save victims of the massacre at youth camp as killer calmly executed those showing signs of life
Mark Townsend in Utøya and Tracy McVeigh guardian.co.uk, Saturday 23 July 2011 18.37 BST
The survivors were pulled out shivering and bleeding from the water and picked up from hiding places in the bushes and behind rocks around the island's shoreline. And when darkness fell the bodies were hauled out by searchlight.
Local residents in a flotilla of little motorboats and fishing dinghies, knowing that a maniacal gunman was in the midst of a killing spree, bravely sailed out to rescue the dozens of terrified youngsters trapped on the tiny island of Utøya on Friday night.
Some youngsters were shot dead in the lake as they tried to swim to safety. Others who played dead were killed where they lay by the meticulous killer who checked his victims for signs of life before moving on, roaming the island and shooting everyone he could find. Edvard Fornes, 16, said the gunman told the youths: "Don't be shy," and, "Come and play with me", before executing them. "There were two kids hiding in a ditch," said Fornes, "saying: 'Please, please don't shoot us', and he shot them."
The killer began just after 5pm; it was two hours before 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik, wearing the uniform of a police officer and protective earplugs against his own deafening gunshots, apparently ran out of ammunition and was arrested by police Swat teams sent from Oslo.
"We saw bodies in the water and children who hid in caves and on cliffs, they dared not come out until we said the gunman was taken, then they came crawling out weeping and screaming," said Lise Berit Aronsen, who took her boat out after hearing of the shootings on the radio. "It was horrible to see children in that state."
As Norway heard the death toll from Friday's two attacks rise from first two, then seven, then 10, deputy police chief Sveinung Sponhelm warned that there would be more. "This is the feedback from the island," he said.
In the early hours of Saturday morning it leaped to 80, even as survivors were still being picked up and the injured being taken to hospital. By dawn it was clear that 92 people had died in the violence, 85 on the island and seven in the fertiliser bomb that had ripped through the Oslo government building just before 3.26pm, an hour and a half before the island rampage, with hospital chiefs warning that there were so many badly hurt the toll could yet rise again. Explosives have been recovered from a car, thought to have been left parked next to the Utøya ferry.
"We greeted him as we got off the ferry," said a student who was leaving Utøya just as Breivik, dressed as a police officer, was boarding the boat for the island. "We thought it was great how quickly the police had come to reassure us of our safety because we had heard of the bombing in Oslo."
Police believe the man they now have in custody is responsible for the most terrible day of carnage in the country's postwar history and that he first watched his bomb rip through the Oslo city centre before driving the 20 miles to catch a boat to Utøya.
There were about 600 people, mostly aged between 14 and 25, on the wooded island, just over a quarter of a mile long, for the annual summer camp of Norway's Labour party youth wing.
"It was about 5pm. We had heard about the bomb in Oslo and had been gathering to discuss it, because of course some people had families in Oslo and were worried," said Adrian Pracon, one of the camp organisers.
"This man came along and said he was from the police and told us he would help us and make sure that everyone was OK but that man, dressed as a policeman, was the shooter. He had a machine gun, but it wasn't set to automatic fire, it was on single shot. He wasn't shooting like crazy or to make panic, he was shooting to kill people, with single bullets." Pracon said Breivik appeared cool and calm but looked like someone from a "Nazi movie".
"He saw someone run into their tent and he just slowly went to the tent, opening it and shot the people in the tent. He had been very prepared for this. He said he would kill us all and everyone shall die."
Many people ran into the water, where they were picked off one by one or were pulled under the water by the weight of their clothes and boots, Pracon said. "I tried to call the police [on my mobile], but so did 200 others, so the system went down. I lay down and acted as if I were dead.
He approached, two metres away. He was kicking people to see if they were alive or dead. I could hear him breathe, I could feel the warmth from the machine gun. I heard a big boom and I couldn't hear anything in my left ear. I didn't think I was hit but it turned out I was shot quite badly. There were about 20 people dead just around me."
Pracon was shot in the shoulder, but is expected to recover.
Prableen Kaur, the Oslo deputy leader of AUF, the Labour party youth wing, was chatting with friends when she heard the first shots. "Everyone was texting all around me. I texted my mum and dad to say I loved them. My mum rang and was crying. I cannot describe the fear."
She said that the gunman shot into bodies all around her. "I thought: 'Now it's over. He's here. He takes me. Now I'm dying'. People screamed. I heard them being shot. Others jumped into the water. I played dead. I lay there for at least an hour on top of a dead body. A man in a boat came to us. His boat was so small that it was taking in water and we had to keep using a bucket to get it out. I was exhausted. We came to the land. We got blankets. I cried and a woman hugged me. It was so good. I wept aloud. A man lent me his phone. I called my dad, I just told him: 'I'm alive'.
"I'm still in shock. I have seen the corpses of my friends. Several of my friends are missing. I am glad that I live. I think of all the relatives. Lives lost. And the hell that is and was on the island. This summer's most beautiful fairytale is transformed into Norway's worst nightmare."
Yesterday Norway's prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, flew in by helicopter to visit other survivors who had been taken to a hotel in the town of Sundvolden to be interviewed by police and reunited with families.
"I know the young people and I know their parents," he said. "And what hurts more is that this place where I have been every summer since 1979, and where I have experienced joy, commitment and security, has been hit by brutal violence – a youth paradise has been transformed into a hell. What happened at Utøya is a national tragedy."
Because of what was unfolding in Oslo many of the people on Utøya were convinced that the gunshots were some kind of "sick joke".
Hana Barzingi was one of them. "I said to him 'What the hell are you doing?'" In the confusion she was able to throw herself into the lake, hiding between bodies. She was lying in the water for two hours before she heard the police helicopters above and knew help was on its way and was pulled from the water by two local men in a boat.
But even as rescue approached, many were too terrified to come out of hiding. Hana's brother Dana Barzingi, deputy chairman of Skedsmo AUF, was in a dining room with friends when the shooting started. "Some of my friends tried to talk to him, some people went to him and tried to talk to him, but they got shot immediately," he said.
Like many of the young people on the island, Niclas Tokerud, sent text messages to his family as he hid. "He sent me a text saying 'There's been gunshots. I am scared … But I am hiding and safe. I love you'," said his sister Nadia, a 25-year-old graphic designer in Hokksund, Norway.
Norway was in shock and grief. "This is a situation that affects us all. This is an event of catastrophic scale," said police director Oystein Maeland. "Like all Norwegians feel, I now have a sensation of shock that is hard to put into words."
The explosion in Oslo was being called "Destiny Time" by Norwegian papers. It had initially led many to leap to the conclusion that Islamist terrorism had reached the ordered streets of the Norwegian capital. But even as footage of the fluttering blinds on the shattered windows of the government buildings began to flash around the world, the home-grown terrorist was moving on to his next, even deadlier target, just 20 miles away.
It was then, before the news of an arrest broke, a clearly emotional Stoltenberg had said: "You shall not destroy us, you shall not destroy our democracy and commitment. We are a small but proud nation. No one should scare us or shoot us into silence. No one should scare us from being Norway."
On Saturday that sentiment was being picked up by defiant Norwegians.
Youth camp leader Eskil Pedersen said there was "no doubt" in his mind that the Labour party was the target of the attack on Utøya. He vowed there would be no surrender of ideals and promised that the summer camp would return to Utøya. "We meet terror and violence with more democracy and will continue to fight against intolerance," he said.
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