Friends of the man killed by police on Friday evening in Lavangen say what happened is incomprehensible. There was an open church in the village on Friday evening.
A man in his 40s stayed overnight on Friday killed by the police on a farm in the municipality of Lavangen in Troms. According to the police, a situation arose which led them to shoot at the man who was driving a wheel loader at the time.
Police chief Astrid Nilsen in the Troms police district said the officers he experienced the situation as life-threateningbut did not go into detail about what prompted them to fire.
Per-Erling Ellingsen is a farmer from Lavangen and claims to have known the deceased all his life. The two were both colleagues and friends.
– It’s completely unimaginable. It’s like you don’t realize it’s true, she tells VG.
– A very good friend
It describes the deceased as kind and hardworking.
– He was a very good friend, he always stood up if you needed help or whatever it was. He was in a good mood and always had a good joke to make.
VG has been in contact with several people who knew the deceased. They describe him as a “yes person” and someone who has always helped others.
According to Ellingsen, the deceased farmer was well liked by his group of friends.
– I’ve known him all my life. In his youth, he was the one to hold back when there was a fight, even though he was the tough guy.
Small community
Lavangen is a small municipality in Troms county. About a thousand people live here. Acting parish priest in the municipality of Trond Losvik, he describes the local environment as a society where “everyone knows everyone”.
– The whole of Lavangen suffers greatly. It’s incomprehensible, sudden and brutal, he tells VG.
– As I know “lavangsværing”, they are good at taking care of each other. That’s the advantage of a small place. But there are many who are going through a difficult time, and we think both of him who passed away and of his family, neighbors and friends.
Losvik says that several people visited the church, which was open this afternoon.
– We do our best to take care of each other and to allow people to have a place to gather.
Bernhardt Halvorsen is a former mayor and now local team leader of the Trom farmers association in Lavangen. He says to Salangen News who knew the murdered man well.
– It is completely incomprehensible what happened. I am speechless. I knew him well and he had a lot of balls in the air and he was working on various projects, Halvorsen tells the paper.
More hits
Images from the scene show, among other things, a police car flipped on its side. There appear to be at least 13 bullet holes in the glass of the wheel loader door.
– It seems completely unnecessary, says Ellingsen.
The two police officers who were at the scene have not yet been suspended, but have been released from duty and are being assisted by their employer.
Bureau investigation chief Halvor Hjelm-Hansen writes in an email to VG that they have launched an investigation into the incident and that Troms investigators are following up on it.
– We can’t give more details about the background and sequence of events so early in the investigation. The actual use of service weapons and the number of shots are among the issues we are investigating, she writes.
