First police patrol at Coop: – Thought we had isolated him – VG

Just updated

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– When we come to Coop, we assess the situation so critically that we have to get in quickly. We understand that it is urgent here, and we see that those who come out of the store are terrified.

It tells one of the two on the patrol who first came to Coop Extra Kongsberg last year. The police had then received a number of dramatic reports that a man armed with a bow and arrow fired shots at random people.

The policeman and his colleague went straight into action without protective equipment, but they had armed themselves with an MP5 and a pistol.

He says that they make themselves known, they shout and ask people to get out.

– Suddenly I get an arrow over my head. It sounds like a stock market shot, and we quickly realize that this was very dangerous and could have gone bad, he says.

Considered firing warning shots

He says that they are trying to advance once more, but that another arrow will then be fired.

– We are considering firing warning shots, but it is considered too dangerous because it is a very confusing area. There is a hard floor and you have no idea where the bullet could have gone, there are also apartments above the building.

The policeman says that he is considering going forward a third time.

– But I consider that, I go forward a third time, then I am taken. We have made ourselves known, and get the impression that he knows where we are and that he is waiting for us, he says.

At this point, patrol leader Anette Skullestad arrives at the store.

– We put on shields and helmets and are ready to go in and take out the perpetrator. But when we are ready to go in, we get word that he has been seen in Peckels gate.

– We thought we had him isolated in the shop, he had obviously gotten out, the policeman says in court on Friday.

Bråthen killed five people after he escaped the first police patrol.

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Known for considerable fear of death

The policeman says that he experienced the evening and the mission as very demanding and that he felt a significant fear of death.

– I’ve never been away in a similar way. I felt, after being shot twice – I then felt the fear of death.

The fear of death was intensified when they realized that Bråthen had escaped from them.

– When we saw the open fire doors, I thought: Where is he now? Is he waiting for us now? It’s dark outside, we have no idea where the perpetrator is, so I felt a significant fear of death. It was completely exhausting, he says.

He says that he has spent a lot of time afterwards thinking about the assignment.

– Thinking that it was terrible what he did. It has also been demanding with all the attention towards me and my colleague, he says.

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Was afraid she had to shoot

There were two patrols at work in Kongsberg when the dramatic reports of the attack in the city came on 13 October last year.

The patrol leader told the court on Thursday that she did not understand what they were facing when the first emergency messages were called.

– I thought: What are we facing now? Is anyone playing? Is it a toy bow and arrow? None of us fully understood the extent of what we were going to encounter, police officer Anette Skullestad told the court on Thursday.

The Plivo instruction – “ongoing life-threatening violence” – was implemented, and the two patrols were told to take off all equipment before going into action.

Skullestad says that she was on her way to Coop Extra when she learned that her two colleagues had been shot inside the store.

– Then I think for the first time that I might have to shoot someone at work, she says, and says that she was scared.

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