Authorities in Oslo Believe Deadly Attack Near Gay Bar was Motivated by Islamic Terrorism

By: TJVNews.com

Oslo’s annual Pride parade was canceled on Saturday following a deadly shooting at a gay bar that Norwegian police are investigating as a possible terrorist attack, according to a CNN report.

Two people died and 21 were wounded early on Saturday in what police called an “act of Islamist terrorism,” according to a BBC report.

The shootings were in and near the London Pub, a popular LGBTQ+ venue, the Herr Nilsen jazz club and another pub, the report indicated

Norway’s prime minister told the BBC the suspect was questioned in May, but was not deemed a threat at the time. “We now need to see the result of an investigation,” PM Jonas Gahr Stoere told the BBC’s Newshour program late on Saturday.

According to police, they received multiple calls about the shooting at 1:14 a.m. local time, and arrived at the scene minutes later. They apprehended the male suspect three minutes after arrival, as was reported by CNN.

The BBC also reported that eyewitnesses said the suspect took out a gun from his bag and started firing, forcing terrified people to either throw themselves to the ground or flee. The 42-year old attacker was arrested by police officers – who were helped by bystanders – minutes later, according to the BBC. Two weapons were retrieved at the crime scene by police, one of them a fully automatic gun.

The authorities later said the suspect was a Norwegian national of Iranian descent and the media have identified him as Zaniar Matapour. Authorities also said that he was on their radar since 2015, due to the fact that they believed he was becoming radicalized by Islamist teachings.

The terror alert level in Norway has now been raised to its highest level, though the country’s PST intelligence service said it currently had “no indication” further attacks were likely, according to the BBC.

The AP reported that the suspect in has refused to explain his actions to investigators and will remain in pretrial custody for the next four weeks, police and his defense lawyer said Sunday.

Matapour’s defense lawyer, John Christian Elden, told The Associated Press by email that his client refused to have his statement recorded and videotaped unless police released the entire recording to the public “with no time delay so it won’t be censored or manipulated.”

Oslo police said they tried to question the suspect on Saturday and again on Sunday without success.

The AP also reported that Elden said previously said his client did not deny being the shooter but had not divulged any motive. The lawyer said Sunday that Matapour did not object to remaining in custody for four weeks so would not appear in court on Monday.

CNN reported that prosecutor Christian Hatlo told reporters in Oslo on Saturday that police had charged the suspect with “murder, attempted murder and terrorist acts.”

He said the terrorism charge was justified on the basis of the number of injured and dead people, the number of crime scenes and an “overall assessment” indicating that the accused intended to “create serious fear in the population,” as was reported by CNN.

The suspect was armed with two weapons during the shooting, police said. They did not confirm what weapons he used due to the pending investigation.