The man armed with a bow and arrow who went on a rampage and killed five people in a small Norwegian town last week appears to have stabbed his victims to death, according to police.
The investigation indicates that the suspect, a 37-year-old man from Denmark who has confessed to the killings, first injured the victims by firing a series of arrows at them, police inspector Per Thomas Omholt told a news conference in Kongsberg on Monday.
He is then believed to have killed the five people with two stabbing weapons, both in private addresses and in public spaces on the same street.
The investigation is still at an early stage, the police inspector said.
He left open what kind of stabbing weapons were involved to avoid influencing witnesses.
The police initially believed that it was an act of terrorism, but in recent days they have changed their minds and now they believe that the suspect committed the crime due to mental problems.
In 2017, the suspect recorded and posted a video online announcing his conversion to Islam and claiming to have "a mission."
Victims randomly chosen
The attack took place last Wednesday in the southern town of Kongsberg. Everything so far indicates that all the victims were randomly chosen, Omholt said.
Among the dead were four women and one man.
The perpetrator's state of mental health is still the most likely motive, police say.
He is in custody in a secure medical facility.
