© 2024
NPR for Northern Colorado
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Admitted Norwegian Mass Shooter Wanted To Decapitate Former Prime Minister

Anders Breivik says he's proud of killing 77 people last summer, most of them teenagers at a summer camp run by Norway's Labor Party. Now he's testified at his trial that his true goal was to capture former Norwegian Prime Minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, and cut off her head. He wanted to film everything for the internet.

Breivik thought Brundtland would still be at the summer camp on July 22, 2011, the day he admits shooting 69 people to death on Utoya Island and detonated a bomb in central Oslo, killing eight people. But AP says Brundtland had already left Utoya by the time Breivik reached the island.

His vitriol against Muslims and Norwegians who support multicultural values is so intense that he planned a much larger murder spree. Today Breivik testified he wanted to blow up the Norwegian Royal Palace, the country's parliament building and the Labour party headquarters, notes the BBC.

While his admissions are horrifying, his conscience is clear: Breivik testified he was compelled to kill people, notes the Telegraph, which is liveblogging the case:

"The last few minutes have spread ripples of shock throughout the courtroom. Breivik is effectively saying that everyone forced him to carry out the massacre - the media, the Norwegian Labour party, the victims themselves - and that he was just about the only innocent party. The whole world was out of step, except him. Suddenly, he comes out as the coldest of narcissistic killers."

Breivik, who dropped his daily Nazi salute in today's hearings after victims and relatives complained, said the Utoya attack wasn't his first choice. He couldn't carry out his original plan to blow up a target because Norway and EU rules limit access to chemical fertilizer, notes the Guardian. Breivik says thus, Norway forced him to carry out the gun attack on the children.

His attorneys had warned people that Breivik isn't remorseful, and would do it all over again. As NPR's Eric Westervelt reports, he wanted to wage a Christian holy war against Muslims and Marxists. Although he's admitted the murders, he says he had to act to protect his country. Breivik's trial is to last 10 weeks; the judges are looking at his mental health. He could be sent to prison or to a mental hospital.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Tags
Korva Coleman is a newscaster for NPR.
Related Content