The Day After, Oslo Bomb & Shooting
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- Category: Treasure Addis-Mills
- Published on Saturday, 23 July 2011 21:55
- Written by Treasure Addis-Mills
The start of this morning was an indication of the fully realized tragedy of the bomb and shooting in Oslo yesterday, July 22. I woke to a thunder and lightning storm and pouring rain. The clouds were dark and the rain came and went throughout the day. Being just outside of downtown Oslo, I found the neighborhood to be quiet for quite some time. I turned on the news to realize that they had found more bodies on Utoya…many more than initial reports coming in last night. By mid day, 85 people were confirmed dead from the shooting spree on Utoya Island, and 7 confirmed dead from the bomb in Oslo city.
1 person, the shooter on Utoya Island, is in police custody and is being interrogated. He is cooperating with them, but has not revealed a motive as yet.
He is expected to have set off the bomb in Oslo as well. He is a 32 year-old Norwegian named Anders Behring Breivik. Possible motives, reports are saying, may be his political leanings and fundamentalist thoughts against multiculturalism.
The shooting on Utoya lasted for over an hour and a half. The young people on the island hid in trees, behind rocks on the shore, tried to swim ¾ miles to the mainland, and “played dead” to try to get away from the bullets of the gunman. He yelled at them, saying they should all die and he was going to kill all of them. It’s reported that many were shot at point blank range and in groups as they huddled together to try to stay safe. Local residents from the mainland were asked by police to use their boats to help get people off the island. The boaters rescued many young people, but saw bodies laying on the shore and floating in the water as they pulled up to shore. Later, police said they found undetonated bombs on the island. Reports are saying there are still 4 people unaccounted for.
92 people have lost their life because of a crazy man’s unknown reason for this madness and chaos and very targeted attack on such a large number of youth. It is being reported as the worst incident in Norway since the attacks in World War II.
Back in downtown Oslo, the streets were being cleaned of broken glass and debris from the explosion. Important buildings and government areas are blocked off and guarded by the military so that police can focus on gathering evidence. Many locals placed flowers around the bomb site for those who died.
The Norwegian community is trying to continue with their everyday lives, but you can see the shock and sadness on their face, as you would expect from any community that’s been rocked like this one has been, especially a community that is considered to be so peaceful. Norway prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, said in an interview that those behind attacks 'will not destroy our democracy.'
*All referred to reports come from CNN news channel.
