‘I’m a messenger with a warning’

Words of bow and arrow ‘terrorist’ who killed five

A MUSLIM convert charged with killing five in a bow and arrow attack in Norway was on the police radar as a potential extremist.

Espen Brathen, who was banned from seeing his own parents after threatening to kill his father, was flagged by police after he published a chilling video on Facebook, saying: ‘I am a messenger. I come with a warning.’

The jobless 37-year-old is due in court today accused of killing four women and a man, aged between 50 and 70, during a terrifying 35-minute attack. Three others, including an off-duty police officer, were injured during the rampage in the town of Kongsberg, near Oslo, on Wednesday night.

Witnesses heard ‘intense howls’ and saw people ‘running for their lives’ as the attacker shot arrows at his victims before stabbing some with a knife.

Brathen is alleged to have broken into homes and killed the occupants. There were questions for the police after they admitted the killing spree began only after their officers were called. They confronted Brathen six minutes into his attack, but were forced to retreat when he shot several arrows at them.

Kongsberg resident Brathen, whose mother is Danish and father is Norwegian, was eventually apprehended 29 minutes later.

Neighbours yesterday described him as an ‘unstable loner’ who owned a collection of weapons, took drugs, rarely left his flat and suffered from mental health issues.

Brathen was handed a six-month restraining order last year for threatening to kill his father.

After he left the family home that day, his shocked parents found a pistol on the sofa. He breached the order months later by returning to the house with a sabre.

Brathen, who has convictions for aggravated theft and drugs offences, came to the attention of the Norwegian security services after posting his video on Facebook in 2017.

Speaking in English, he said: ‘I am a messenger. I come with a warning. Is this what you really want? For everyone who wants to redeem themselves, the time has come. You must testify that I am a Muslim.’

The PST, the Norwegian equivalent of MI5, described Wednesday’s attack as ‘an act of terror’. Earlier this year, the intelligence service estimated there was a 50-50 chance of a low-tech Islamist terror attack taking place over the next 12 months.

Brathen allegedly launched his attack near a Co-op store on the western side of the town at 6.12pm local time.

Thomas Nilsen, who lives nearby, said: ‘I thought it was war, because it was so intense. But then I heard a scream I have never heard before. It was a scream that burned into the soul. I will never forget that. I perceived it as a death cry.’

Markus Kultima, 23, who lives above the store, witnessed parts of the attack. ‘I saw a man come walking with an arrow in his back,’ he said. ‘It was an off-duty officer.’

Another witness saw a ‘man standing on the corner with arrows in a quiver on his shoulder and a bow in his hand’. She added: ‘Afterwards, I saw people running for their lives. One of them was a woman holding a child by the hand.’

At least 22 police squads and 29 ambulances were despatched to the usually quiet town centre as the attacker maimed and killed his victims at random. He was caught after police surrounded him and fired warning shots.

The suspect was taken to a police station in the city of Drammen, where he was questioned for more than three hours.

Ann Iren Svane Mathiassen, the police lawyer leading the investigation, said Brathen had confessed.

‘He talked calmly and clearly described what he had done. He admitted killing the five people.’

Briton Fiona Herland, who has lived in Kongsberg for five years, described the town as ‘a very warm, cosy place’ where ‘nothing happens’.

She told the BBC: ‘This is absolutely devastating. You can feel the atmosphere here has darkened.’

‘Scream that burned into the soul’