Sincere conversion to Islam of bow and arrow killer in doubt

 
1,218Views 0Comments Posted 16/10/2021

 AFP -The sincere conversion to Islam of Espen Andersen Bråthen, who killed five people with a bow and arrows in Norway, is in question at this stage of the investigation, Norwegian police said on Saturday.

"The hypothesis according to which he converted to Islam is less credible," Inspector Per Thomas Omholt told a news conference.

The police officer explained that the progress of the investigation reinforced doubts about the mental health of Espen Andersen Bråthen, who admitted killing five people and injuring three others on Wednesday in Kongsberg, in the southeast, where he himself resides.

“The hypothesis is that he did not take (his conversion) very seriously. By this we mean that he did not follow or use the traditions that are common in this culture and religion, ”he continued.

On Friday, the 37-year-old Dane was placed in provisional detention for four weeks, the first two in total isolation. He will be detained in a medical facility.

The police have already questioned him three times and will do so again "when his condition allows it."

"Everything suggests that he chose his victims at random" and that he acted alone, said Omholt, who described the individual as "not very sociable in life and on the Internet."

According to the security forces, he would have thought about his attack "a few days" earlier.

Police also revealed the identity of the deceased: Andréa Meyer, 52, Hanne Merethe Englund, 56, Liv Berit Borge, 75, Gunnar Erling Sauve, 75, and Gun Marith Madsen, 78.