WARNING SIGNS
He is being kept in a medical facility pending a psychiatric evaluation, which is necessary to determine whether Brathen can be held legally responsible for his actions.
“As far as motive is concerned, illness remains the main hypothesis. And as far as conversion to Islam is concerned, this hypothesis is weakened,” Omholt added.
On Saturday, police announced the identities of the five victims, four women and one man: Andrea Meyer, 52; Hanne Merethe Englund, 56; Liv Berit Borge, 75; Gunnar Erling Sauve, 75 and Gun Marith Madsen, 78.
Brathen had been living in Kongsberg, home to about 25,000 people around 80km west of the capital Oslo, for years and authorities have said he has a medical history, although details have not been made public.
The Norwegian security services PST, which are responsible for counterterrorism, also said the man had been on their radar.
In the days following the attack police mentioned “fears of radicalisation”, dating back to 2020 and before, which they said had been followed up at the time.
According to public broadcaster NRK, a first warning had been received in 2015 and, according to Norwegian media, PST had warned in 2018 that the suspect could commit “a small-scale attack”.
News website Nettavisen also published a video that Brathen allegedly posted to social media in 2017, in which he issued a “warning” while declaring his Muslim faith.
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