Norway: Police says attacker used 'sharp object' to kill 5 in Kongsberg, not bow and arrow

Five victims of the Kongsberg supermarket attack were murdered with a 'sharp object', not bow and arrows as earlier suspected, the Norway Police Department said in a statement released on October 18. In addition to this, the investigating officers have also seized stabbing weapons that have been linked to the spine-chilling attack on October 13 that has rocked Norway. However, details about what kind of stabbing weapon is in question were held back "for the sake of witnesses and victims who have still not been questioned," police inspector Per Thomas Omholt in the South-East police district said in a statement.

Norwegian Police Department has so far formally questioned around 60 witnesses and about 140 people considered related to the case. "The police still working on interrogation, and there are still integrations of two witnesses who were at or around Coop Extra on Wednesday night," the Department mentioned in their release.

The Norwegian Police Security Sevices has already detained Espen Andersen Bråthen (37) as a prime suspect in the attack that appeared to be "carried out as an act of terror." The suspect claimed guilty of attacking people with bows and arrows with which he attacked shoppers in the small town of Kongsberg in Norway, Head of Norway PST Hans Sverre Sjovold told NRK. The police have earlier informed that illness still appears to be the "most probable hypothesis" so far, however, an investigation into the matter still continues.

The Norwegian court has ordered four weeks of custody in a medical facility for Bråthen after his initial assessment of health evaluation, Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported, citing prosecutors' statements. The suspect is scheduled to undergo a "full forensic psychiatric examination" to determine participation in the action, Norwegian Police said in a statement. Notably, the 37-year old was earlier apprehended for petty crimes and was flagged by the police for suspected radicalization. On Wednesday night that the police received a report that a man shot with a bow and arrow inside Coop Extra at Nytorget on the west side in Kongsberg, Norway. The "terror attack" killed 5 people due to "stabbing weapons" in their own homes and public spaces.

Image: AP