Recently near a gay bar, 2 men were shot and killed while 21 were badly injured. The case is now under investigation and police are managing this incident as an “act of Islamist Terrorism”.
The local Pride parade that was scheduled on Saturday was cancelled because of this horrific episode.
The shootings occurred early on Saturday, near the London Pub, a well-known LGBTQ+ hangout/venue. Other places included the Herr Nilsen jazz club and another bar.
Witnesses say the suspect took out a gun and rapidly started firing everywhere, forcing the petrified people to run or hide for their lives.
As the terrified people and bystanders fled, four people tackled the gunman and flung his gun out of his hand.
Another horrified person stood on the gun to make sure “no one would come”, as he told NRK.
The shooter was soon arrested by 2 police officers with the help of nearby people. He was later identified as 42-year-old Zaniar Matapour and arrested for terrorism, murder, and attempted murder. There were a total of 2 weapons retrieved from the scene, one of them an automatic rifle.
At the service, Norway’s Prime Minister described people waving and carrying LGBTQ+ flags, and laying flowers at the scene of the murders. Instead of celebrating their pride and ability to be who they truly were, it was a somber and funeral-like moment. Some cried and were comforted by others.
Olav Fykse Tveit, the head of the Norwegian Protestant Church said, “Bullets cannot kill love.” He acknowledged that the church wasn’t fully on board with the whole “same-sex couples should have equal rights” thing, saying, “We see that we can learn, sometimes in spite of ourselves, that diversity is a present, a richness, and that many homosexuals have a capacity for love that we are incapable of.”
We are still unaware of Matapour’s motives and the purpose of the attack, but investigators are trying to find out why he did this. For now, we can only wait for answers.
The local Pride parade that was scheduled on Saturday was cancelled because of this horrific episode.
The shootings occurred early on Saturday, near the London Pub, a well-known LGBTQ+ hangout/venue. Other places included the Herr Nilsen jazz club and another bar.
Witnesses say the suspect took out a gun and rapidly started firing everywhere, forcing the petrified people to run or hide for their lives.
As the terrified people and bystanders fled, four people tackled the gunman and flung his gun out of his hand.
Another horrified person stood on the gun to make sure “no one would come”, as he told NRK.
The shooter was soon arrested by 2 police officers with the help of nearby people. He was later identified as 42-year-old Zaniar Matapour and arrested for terrorism, murder, and attempted murder. There were a total of 2 weapons retrieved from the scene, one of them an automatic rifle.
At the service, Norway’s Prime Minister described people waving and carrying LGBTQ+ flags, and laying flowers at the scene of the murders. Instead of celebrating their pride and ability to be who they truly were, it was a somber and funeral-like moment. Some cried and were comforted by others.
Olav Fykse Tveit, the head of the Norwegian Protestant Church said, “Bullets cannot kill love.” He acknowledged that the church wasn’t fully on board with the whole “same-sex couples should have equal rights” thing, saying, “We see that we can learn, sometimes in spite of ourselves, that diversity is a present, a richness, and that many homosexuals have a capacity for love that we are incapable of.”
We are still unaware of Matapour’s motives and the purpose of the attack, but investigators are trying to find out why he did this. For now, we can only wait for answers.