Norway Cops Look for 2nd Shooter

Witnesses describe scene of camp shooting on Utoya island
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 23, 2011 7:49 AM CDT
Norway Shooting: Cops Investigating Possibility of Second Shooter
A Facebook photo of the central suspect of the Norway terror attacks, named by sources as Anders Behring Breivik, July 23, 2011.   (Getty Images)

Norway police are investigating the possibility that there were two shooters in yesterday's devastating assault on a youth camp on Utoya island. Witnesses told police that a second man—this one not dressed in police attire—was involved in the shooting spree that claimed 85 lives, reports the AP. Including those killed in the separate Oslo bombing, the total death toll is at 92. Other developments in the case:

  • The suspect in the case, Anders Behring Breivik, allegedly bought some six tons of artificial fertilizer in early May, reports the AP, citing a Norwegian newspaper.

  • Police detained a man in possession of a knife outside the hotel where Norway's PM was meeting with victims' families. The man said he had the knife "because I feel unsafe," and that he was a member of the Labor Party's youth wing.
  • Witnesses say the shooter first shot victims with a gun, then again in the head with a shotgun to make sure they were dead. "It seems kind of unreal, especially in Norway," says one survivor. "This is not something that could happen here."
  • "He first shot people on the island. Afterward he started shooting people in the water," said another survivor, who hid behind the rock the shooter was standing on. "I could hear his breathing from the top of the rock."
  • Hillary Clinton condemned the attacks, saying that they strike "right at the heart and soul of a peaceful people."

Click through the gallery for scenes from both attacks. (More Norway stories.)

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