Evaluation of PST’s and the police’s handling in connection with the Kongsberg incident on 13th October 2021

Abstract

In the early evening of 13th October 2021, the man who would later be known to be the perpetrator, Espen Andersen Bråthen,2 left his accommodation in Kongsberg. With him, he had a bow, a quiver with 60 arrows, a short sword and two knives. Along his way to Coop Extra, he fired arrows at a person, but missed. When he arrived at the building, he fired arrows at two people in the parking area belonging to the Coop shop and the off licence [Vinmonopolet]. The police control room received its first call at approximately 12 minutes past six. Two police patrols, totalling three officers, left Kongsberg police station. The incident, was, after a short time, declared an ongoing life-threatening violence situation (PLIVO). Meanwhile, the man had made his way into the Coop shop where he fired arrows towards several people. When the police arrived there was a confrontation during which the man fired arrows at the first patrol. The perpetrator escaped from the patrol via an emergency exit the patrol was unaware of and, outside in Myntgata, fired arrows at more people before making his way to Peckels gate where he attempted to gain entry to a residential property. The three police officers in Kongsberg chased him, first on foot and then in a patrol car. At the same time, Sør-Øst police district’s control room had received a number of calls which prompted a rapid and comprehensive mobili sation of police forces from, among others, Sør-Øst police district, Oslo police district, the National Mobile Police Service and national emergency preparedness resources. The police patrols in Kongsberg were alone most of the time until the arrest. During the time the police were looking for him, the man used a sharp weapon to take the lives of five people in Hyttegata before he was arrested around 13 minutes to seven. Approximately 34 minutes elapsed from the first call to his arrest… (Read the full abstract from p. 8).