The suspect accused of wounding one person after opening fire at a mosque in Oslo, Norway, espoused radical right-wing beliefs online, according to police.
Oslo Police Superintendent Rune Skjold said in a Sunday press conference that the yet-to-be named suspect was in his 20s and held extreme views, as well as hostility toward immigrants. The Norwegian man had praised Vidkun Quisling, Norway’s leader under Nazi occupation. Police said the shooting was being investigated as a possible act of terrorism.
The incident occurred Saturday at the Al-Noor Islamic Center. After shooting through the mosque’s locked glass door, a 65-year-old man named Mohamed Rafiq stopped the suspect by overpowering him, according to his lawyer Abdul-Satar Ali.
“Mohamed acted immediately when the shooter entered the room. He toppled the shooter and pinned him to the floor, [and] sat on top of him,” Ali told reporters Sunday.
There were reportedly more than a dozen people praying in the mosque about 10 minutes before the shooting began, but when the gunman arrived there were only three men left inside.
“The man carried two shotgun-like weapons and a pistol,” mosque director Irfan Mushtaq said after the shooting.
Police said multiple weapons believed to be linked to the suspect were found inside the mosque.
After the arrest, police found the suspect’s 17-year-old sister dead in his residence. The man has been charged with murder for her death and attempted murder for the mosque shooting.
