Norway attack suspect ‘inspired’ by Christchurch, El Paso shootings: report

0

Online posts suggest a man arrested over an attack on a mosque near Oslo this weekend was inspired by alleged white supremacist shooters in Christchurch, New Zealand and El Paso, Texas, according to media reports.

Police in Norway say the suspect opened fire at a mosque 20 kilometers outside Oslo on Saturday. One person was injured while managing to overpower the gunman before his arrest, according to the BBC. The suspect has also been charged with murder after his 17-year-old stepsister was found dead at a separate location. The attack is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism.

A picture taken on August 10, 2019 shows medics with a stretcher near the al-Noor islamic center mosque where a gunman, armed with multiple weapons, went on a shooting spree in the town of Baerum, an Oslo suburb. – The gunman injured one worshipper before being arrested, police and witnesses said. (Photo by Terje Pedersen / NTB Scanpix / AFP) / Norway OUT (Photo credit should read TERJE PEDERSEN/AFP/Getty Images)

According to the Guardian, messages posted by the suspect, Philip Manshaus, on the day of the attack claim he was “chosen” by “Saint [Brenton] Tarrant,” the man charged with killing 51 people at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in March.

Another message includes a meme praising Tarrant as well as the suspect in the El Paso shooting, in which 22 people were killed, and the suspect behind a shooting at a synagogue in California in April in which one person was killed.

The posts were reportedly made on a new forum called Endchan. The men charged in the El Paso and Christchurch shootings both reportedly spread their white nationalist manifestos before their attacks through a forum called 8chan, which was knocked offline following the Texas attack.

Saturday’s attack in Norway also came eight years after convicted far-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in the country’s worst peacetime atrocity.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *