– The incident is a serious matter in itself, but we are concerned with the preparedness aspect around this.
That’s what the cohabiting couple who had a very dramatic experience when they were going for a walk with their infant outside Andenes in Nordland on Tuesday evening.
– We had our infant in a pram and my father on the trip. We were walking in a housing estate and suddenly a door opened, says the mother of young children to NRK.
– There was a person standing in the doorway who stretched his hands towards us and aimed a firearm at us. He shouted something about us having to get away. We were completely put out, she continues.
The case was first reported by the local newspaper Vesterålen magazine.
NRK is aware of the identity of the cohabiting couple, who wish to remain anonymous in the matter.
Fired by shots
The child’s father initially thought it was all a bad joke, expecting someone to jump forward with a mobile camera.
– But suddenly he fired shots at us, which hit just behind where we were standing.
The lack of a proper bang from the weapon meant that they quickly realized that it was not an ordinary gun that had been fired, but probably an air weapon.
– The most frightening thing was that before he pressed the trigger, we didn’t know it was an air weapon. It looked like an ordinary gun. But it was probably a gas-powered air weapon, the roommates continue.
– Nevertheless, we heard that projectiles whizzed past us. The child’s father shouted “Don’t you see that we have an infant here”, they continue to say.
The incident happened outside Andenes center in Andøy municipality.
The person who fired the shots with the air weapon then disappeared into the house. In the meantime, the roommates, with the pram, set off.
– On his way away, he came out at the back of the house. This time he aimed and shot at the child’s father, who ran away with the pram while he tried as best he could to protect the child with his body, says the mother of the toddler.
The couple eventually made it to the grandparents’ home nearby and got the door locked. On the way there, they had called the police to report the incident.
But no immediate assistance from the police came.
The police did not come until 3.5 hours later
– After two hours, the police called dad and told him that they were on their way. Then we sat at home with locked doors and didn’t dare go to bed.
Only 3.5 hours after they notified the police about the incident, two police cars and an ambulance appeared.
– It is not out of the question that you arrive with half the emergency response team four hours after they were first notified, says the cohabiting couple.
Both the cohabitants and the infant came from the incident with horror. But now they are questioning the police’s preparedness in Vesterålen.
– It obviously doesn’t work at all, they say in frustration.
The police: Should have moved out immediately
Several weapons found at the scene were seized. The person who fired these is being reported, but no arrests have been made.
– I think that the way the situation appears, we absolutely need to evaluate and I partly agree that we should have moved immediately to that incident. We must learn from this.
That’s what Tor Håvard Bentzen, who is police station chief in Sortland, says.
Tor Håvard Bentzen is police station chief in Sortland.
– Why does it take so long between the police receiving the message and a patrol arriving at the scene?
– It has to do with message reception, perception of the message and its processing, says Bentzen.
It is the operations center in Bodø that handles such inquiries, and assesses whether immediate action is necessary.
– As the situation had resolved, and that it was an air force, the assessment was that this could wait until other ongoing missions. But in retrospect we see that we have to evaluate this.
Moved to elevator fire
It goes without saying that there was an elevator fire at Åse south of Andøya at the same time as the report about the shooting incident came in.
But Bentzen denies that there was a concurrency conflict with the emergency services.
– I do not want to say it. There was a fire, but then we’re back to message reception. The assessment was that one could complete one mission (the fire) before moving on to the other (the shooting).
The emergency services responded to a fire in a lift on Åse south of Andøya on Tuesday evening. This mission was prioritized by the police, rather than going out for the shooting with air weapons.
Photo: Casper Bjørnsund Gundersen
In the aftermath of the incident, Bentzen believes that the police must review the sequence of events and evaluate how the police acted.
– We have great understanding for those who experienced this situation, and we see quite obviously that we should have had a good dialogue with them during the incident until the police are on the scene.
He says that they have been in contact with the victims after the incident, and invites them to take part in the evaluation the police will now carry out.
– In all types of incidents where weapons are involved, I think the police should react immediately.
Want better staffing – have to save more
On Friday, station manager in Svolvær, Geir Iversen, was in the local media and expressed concern about a budget crisis in the police.
A forecast after the first three months of the year shows that the police districts themselves estimate an additional expenditure of NOK 470 million this year, writes Police Forum.
Due to the tight budget, the police districts may have to reduce staffing by 552 positions in order to balance the budget.
– The politicians must wake up now. They have to listen to the signals they get from the police districts all over the country. As the situation is now, the politicians are steering the agency in a direction that could have serious consequences, says Iversen The Lofoten post office.
Bentzen would like to see that they could afford more police officers who are out in the field.
– We have the resources we have and we have tight financial conditions. I had quite obviously seen that we would have had more resources available so that we would have had an alternative course of action.
This year is the first time in a long time that they do not have summer substitutes at the police station.
At the same time, he adds that it is difficult to compare the large geographical areas that the police have to cover in Vesterålen and Lofoten, with, for example, Bodø and larger cities in Norway.
– But I wish we had two patrols available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Instead, it can go the other way, says the police station chief.
– We have also received signals that from 2024 we will have to look at savings, and then it is employees we are looking at. It is worrying, concludes Bentzen.
2023-08-04 20:15:35
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