19-year-old shot in Oslo – Victim (19):

(Dagbladet): Together with two friends, the 19-year-old sat, at 01:00 on the night of Wednesday 25 August, and played on his phones.

– We sat under the trees, right by the block I live on Trosterud. This is where we young people use to meet each other. The evening was quite ordinary. I was sitting with two others, a man in his 20s of Turkish origin, and a Moroccan in his early 20s. Suddenly a man is walking towards us, the 19-year-old from the hospital bed at Ullevål hospital tells Dagbladet.

Life-threatening injury

After a month, and four operations, the young man, who was born and raised in Oslo, wants to tell what happened when he was shot.

Together with his lawyers, John Christian Elden and Farid Bouras, Dagbladet gets to visit the 19-year-old bricklayer apprentice at Ullevål hospital.

– Hi, is the first thing the 19-year-old says when the nurse shows us into the hospital room.

– It’s nice that you want to write about it, he says.

– I just feel happy that the doctors have patched me up. But I will always carry this with me on, says the 19-year-old before his voice breaks.

– It was late at night – after midnight – I do not remember which day, I have been in a coma for many days, he says.

“Fucking blacks”

Several times, the 19-year-old, who says he does not belong to any gang environment, has to stop. The voice does not carry. After several minutes, he manages to speak coherently.

– We sat calmly and gamed with our phones. It’s pretty dark. Suddenly a man comes walking towards us. I recognize him. I have never talked to him, but it is him, says the 19-year-old.

– What’s up?

– We first think he has a battery or a phone in hand. Suddenly the man shouts “fucking blacks”. I do not quite get it, but one of the other guys heard it. He shouts something with “blacks” and that we are going to die.

– The man fires several shots. One of the ointments hits me in the stomach. I run for my life, and several shots are fired.

The mason apprentice flees in panic, and tells of unbearable pain as a result of the shots. Eventually he manages to get into one of the blocks in the area, and stays in the stairwell.

Several shots

– I was hit in the stomach. The doctors have operated on me three times, several organs have been damaged. The shots that were fired also hit me in one leg, in the elbow, and some hailstones drilled into my face. The doctor has picked hail upon hail out of my body, he says.

– You say you recognized the man?

– He is often at Trosterud, says the teenager and gives a detailed description of a well-grown man.

– Terrified

The bricklayer apprentice fears that life will never be the same.

– I have no doubt. He wanted to kill me because I’m brown in the skin. I’m Norwegian, I was born in Oslo, and we moved from Carl Berner to Trosterud when I was two years old.

When he woke up after the operations and coma, the 19-year-old was terrified.

– After the shots, I get anxiety when I see white Norwegians, and am afraid that they will kill me, he says.

«Ordinary Norwegian youth»

– Have you ever talked to the man who shot you?

– No, but I have seen him several times, he thinks.

– Have you been involved in any form of crime?

– No, I am an ordinary Norwegian youth. I do not know why he tried to kill me.

Fearing revenge

The 19-year-old is happy that he was not killed, and that the doctors at Ullevål hospital saved his life.

– Life is on hold. Now the trade test in the masonry profession is failing. Maybe life will never be the way it was, says the 19-year-old, who for the sake of his further safety does not dare to come forward with his name and picture.

– If the police do not arrest the man, I am afraid young people will take the matter into their own hands. It must not happen. I have no doubt: it was pure racism and nothing else. He wanted to kill us because we are a little darker in the skin than other Norwegians, says the 19-year-old.

Pointed out person

– Our client cooperates with the police, and we hope the investigators in Oslo can quickly arrest the perpetrator, says lawyer Farid Bouras in the law firm Elden.

After Dagbladet met the 19-year-old, he has been questioned by the police. In the interrogation, he gave a detailed description of a man with a Nordic appearance. The 19-year-old says that he pointed out a person at a photo confrontation. He was released the next day.

– You’re sure the man you pointed out is the same one who fired the shots?

– Yes, says the 19-year-old.

Unknown perpetrator

Police lawyer Hilde Strand in the Oslo police confirms that a man was arrested after the explanation of the 19-year-old.

– The man was released after two days, because the suspicion against him was weakened. The man is still formally charged. The case against him has not been finally decided, but we believe there was no basis for presenting him for custody, says police attorney Strand to Dagbladet.

She emphasizes that the police are fully investigating the shooting, and that they do not question the 19-year-old’s explanation.

– We keep all possibilities open. Two men have been arrested, the suspicion against both has been weakened, beyond that I can not go into the details for the sake of further ether research. It’s a complicated investigation.

– The police can not verify the various information the victim has provided. Specifically with regard to the reproduced racist statements, we can state that the offended have not explained this to the police. We thus have no concrete evidence in the case that this is hate crime, says police attorney Hilde Strand to Dagbladet.

“Unfortunately, an unknown perpetrator is at large,” police lawyer Hilde Strand told Dagbladet.

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