Norway: Man who killed five with bow and arrow was a convert to Islam

The terrorist who murdered five people with a bow and arrow in Norway had converted to Islam and was previously known to the police, police chief Ole Bredrup Sæverud said Thursday.

The suspect is a 37-year-old Danish citizen who was living in Norway, and is believed to have acted alone, CNN reported. He has been arrested and charged with the Kongsberg attack, but police have not disclosed the details of the charges.

Speaking at a news conference, Sæverud said, "The police have previously been in contact with the man, including as a result of previous concerns related to radicalization." However, he added, the suspect had not appeared on their radar this year, and the police "received no reports in 2021 regarding radicalization."

"We have some information about the five people who died. There are four women and a man, no one has been formally identified yet. It will take some time. They are all aged 50 to 70 years," he added.

"It appears reasonably clear that probably everyone was killed after the police were in contact with the perpetrator for the first time."

CNN noted that a timeline of Wednesday's events showed that just 35 minutes passed between the first reports of the shooting and the suspect's arrest.