Female artist named among five murdered in Norway bow and arrow attack

A female artist in her 50s has been named locally to be among the five killed in the bow and arrow rampage in Norway.

Four women and one man, all aged between 50 and 70, were victims of a murder spree on Wednesday evening.

Suspected radicalised Espen Andersen Braathen, a 37-year-old Danish citizen, remains in custody and police believe he acted alone.

Hanne Englund, named locally, was believed to be left dying outside her home, according to reports.

The ceramic artist lived with her husband in their home close to the Coop supermarket where the assailant begun firing arrows, according to reports.

Nearby resident and student Thomas Nilsen told MailOnline: “I heard awful yelling and screaming while I was at home. It sounded like a couple quarrelling or fighting.

“I shrugged it off at first, then I heard what I think was a single gunshot which must have been a warning shot from the police. Five minutes later, I heard the sound of a lady yelling, like I had never heard before. It was just fearful and a sound of desperation. In my mind these were the shrieks of a person dying.

“I sat inside and I didn’t dare go out because I didn’t know if there was a gun involved. Then there was complete silence so I went out and looked round the corner and saw five or six people including paramedics trying to revive this lady.”

He said he was informed one of the victims was Mrs Englund and she had died from her injuries.

Three others, including an off-duty police officer, were wounded in the Kongsberg “terror” attack.

Hans Sverre Sjoevold, head of Norway’s domestic intelligence, said: “The whole act appears to be an act of terror.”

“We do not know what the motivation of the perpetrator is,” Sjoevold said in English. “We have to wait for the outcome of the investigation.”

It marked a rare mass killing in Norway.