Five people were killed and three injured during the attack in Kongsberg on Wednesday night.
Police are now releasing the names of those killed, in consultation with their relatives.
The five are Gun Marith Madsen (76), Hanne Englund (56), Liv Borge (75), Gunnar Erling Sauve (75) and Andrea Meyer (52).
– It now appears that it is as if there are random victims.
– We are on day four of the investigation. The plan for the press conference is to say what’s new. I will say something about the police action, the accused’s history, conversion to Islam and the status of the accused, says police inspector Per Thomas Omholt. He meets the press at Quality Hotel Grand in Kongsberg.
– They are three injured are injured with weapons and they should be in physically okay shape now.
– We ask for your understanding that we will not say anything about the police action.
– The accused’s status will be mapped by the investigation. Everything from his previous contact with the police, reviews against him, witnesses’ experience of him, reports of concern, his contact with the health service and especially mental health care.
– The question of sanity in particular is important. But we must have certain facts before we conclude and express ourselves.
– He has previously been the subject of a preliminary investigation in 2020.
– The police are working on several hypotheses. The hypothesis that is the strength so far is that he has done it alone. He seems like a person who has had little social contact with others.
The police believe the hypothesis that the accused has converted to Islam has been weakened.
– The hypothesis of conversion to Islam is weakened on the basis of, among other things, what the accused has said in interrogation. The investigation confirms that he may not have done this very seriously. He has not followed up or used the traditions that are common for Islam. Illness is the strongest hypothesis now.
– The accused is still in a closed ward at a health institution. He is not questionable now. Three interrogations of him have been done so far.
– The health service has said that the accused became worse and was not able to do an interrogation.
– In such a serious case, the police have contact with the health service all the way.
– It is previously known that three weapons have been used. One must be bow and arrow. We do not want to say anything about what the others are now.
– We have chosen not to go out with how the deceased were killed.
– There are several victims in the case who do not have a post in the indictment. They are registered in the computer system of the police. We do not go out with numbers on how many now.
– The investigation indicates that he has been a lot to himself and little social, online and physically. As of now, there is a lot that speaks for it.
– The interrogations with the accused have revolved around the incidents that happened on Wednesday night. We will drill into, among other things, his religiosity in the future.
– There may still be witnesses we have not spoken to yet.
– We have questioned people who know the accused or have a relationship with hma. Several, families and former friends have been questioned. We want to interrogate more people who have been in contact with him in recent years.
– We have done around 50 witness interviews. Today there are more.
– The main hypothesis is that the accused has an illness and that he has planned the attacks a few days in advance.
– The accused has explained in detail about the course of events in questioning. That explanation is supported in the investigation.
– We are aware that he has stated that he has converted to Islam. Our investigation suggests that he has not converted to Islam. He has collaborated on the actual circumstances in questioning.
– We hope the accused is in a condition to be questioned as soon as possible.
– We are reluctant to provide information about the police action, as soon as we believe that we have questioned most of the witnesses and victims in the case, we will go into more detail about the police action.
– We have come a long way in the interrogation of witnesses.
–
