– Many in Kongsberg agree that that boy never got the help he needed.
This is what the former best friend of Espen Andersen Bråthen (37) claims to Dagbladet, who meets him at a restaurant in the city he lives in.
It has been many years since he moved from Kongsberg, where Bråthen on Wednesday 13 October killed five people with stabbing weapons. A double-digit number of people have status as offended in the case.
Bråthen has acknowledged the facts, but has not taken a position on criminal guilt. He is subjected to a complete judicial observation to clarify whether he was sane at the time of the crime. The police’s strongest hypothesis is that the motive is linked to mental illness. Friday he was taken over by the health service.
Bråthen’s defender, Fredrik Neumann, has been offered to have this interview sent to him. He states that he has no comment.
To be considered: This is what they are looking for
Sent SMS
Bråthen’s former friend, who is in his late 30s, points to a map of Bråthen’s movements that evening. He says that he and the killer played in the same streets as children.
On Thursday 14 October at 10.42, he sends a message to Bråthen’s mobile phone. It is the first contact between the two in several years, according to the man. He had read about the killings in Kongsberg in the media.
He had a bad feeling, but was not sure of anything. The message is sent 16 hours and 35 minutes after the police received the first message about a man who shot at people with a bow and arrow in Kongsberg.
«Bridge is me (name removed), is this your number? », he writes.
SMS: This message was sent to Bråthen’s mobile phone on Thursday 14 October at 10.42, 16 hours and 35 minutes after the police received the first message about a man who shot at people with a bow and arrow in Kongsberg. Photo: Private
view more
The man never gets an answer. Bråthen had been apprehended by the police at 18.47 the night before.
That same evening, Bråthen is identified by several media, including Dagbladet.
– I was shocked, the man says
After that, he reported himself to the police, and has been in several interrogations, he claims. He expresses that he is deeply saddened by the situation, and that he has felt both sadness and anger towards his former friend.
– China putter
The man first met Bråthen in primary school. He describes him as a kind, social and a bit hyperactive boy, who enjoyed being out in nature.
– We invented pranks, innocent things. Saw a bunch of movies. FIFA, whatever it may be. He was kind and a little different. Sometimes a little weird, but everyone liked him. He was cool and had a lot of energy. Mostly I had an insanely cool and nice time with him. We were like brothers, he says.
They played computer games, listened to music and made more or less innocent “boy jokes”, such as playing with china putters or shooting with air rifles, he says. As he got older, Bråthen also became a good cook, according to his friend.
view more
–
Several seizures in Bråthen’s home
– We were troublemakers as children. Not that we bullied anyone, but we were “hyper” and made fun of each other. We meat with people. Throw small china putters, he says.
On Thursday last week, the police stated that the 37-year-old has converted to Islam. On Saturday, however, they said that this hypothesis is weakened, among other things on the basis of what Bråthen has said in interrogation.
– The investigation so far has strengthened the hypothesis that he has not done this very seriously, said police inspector Per Thomas Omholt in the Southeast police district in a press release.
The childhood friend does not believe that Bråthen’s interest in Islam ran very deep, and says that he had little knowledge of the religion. The childhood friend himself has a Muslim background, but is not a practitioner.
– He could just as easily have believed in “Star Wars” and “Jedi Knights”, he says.
CHILDHOOD FRIEND: – We invented pranks, innocent things. Saw a bunch of movies. FIFA, whatever it may be. He was kind and a little different. Sometimes a little weird, but everyone liked him, says the former best friend about murder suspect Espen Andersen Bråthen. Photo: Hans Arne Vedlog / Dagbladet
view more
– Had anxiety
He himself lost contact with Bråthen several years ago. Another friend of Bråthen has previously told Dagbladet that he became more and more isolated from his late teens.
The former best friend tells the same thing. It also became increasingly difficult for friends to relate to Bråthen, he claims.
He says that Bråthen could invite him to his home, and then refuse to open the door.
– I could call a million times and send a lot of messages. Afterwards he could come and say “sorry, I got noia”. He was scared or anxious.
The times he opened the door, it could hit both ways, he claims.
– He could be angry and aggressive and play loud music, or he could be nice and accept me.
The man’s impression is that there were fewer and fewer in Bråthen’s life.
– You can count on one hand the number of people he had in his mid-20s. And then you can deduct one and one person for each year that passed. Seven years ago he was left with me. After that, I do not know.
Such was the killing field
– Sick
Both childhood friends say that Bråthen eventually got in close contact with the health service.
– He got weirder and weirder. He was ill, there is no doubt about that. I love the guy, but he was sick, says the former best friend.
As an adult, his behavior could seem intimidating to others, even when he did not have bad intentions, the childhood friend believes.
– A rare human being
However, he emphasizes that Bråthen also had periods where things apparently went well.
– The last time I saw him, I thought he was doing well. I thought he was going to meet a lady who enjoys the outdoors, getting married and having children.
That was around 2014, according to the man.
Interrogated several who knew him
– Turn each stone
Arne Christian Haugstøyl, section leader for counter-terrorism in PST, to Dagbladet, informed Dagbladet on Friday that PST was notified of Bråthen in 2015. The information was shared with the health service in January 2018.
On Saturday, department head Mona Grinderud at Kongsberg DPS stated that they are in the process of investigating what happened after PST asked the health service to follow up Espen Andersen Bråthen.
– In the future, we will turn every stone to get to the bottom of what has been our role and what has happened, and if there is anything we could have done better, she wrote in an e-mail to NTB.
–
