Norway Shootings: Terror on Utoya Island

 July 23, 2011 12:40 PM EDT

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 They were just kids. The gunman in the Norway shootings on Utoya Island knew where he could find the future of the governing Labour Party. He approached the youth wing camp Friday, attended by about 700 young people, mostly teenagers.

He gained access to the island by acting as a police officer, camp guard, Simen Braenden Mortensen told the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang. “He gets out of the car and shows ID, says he’s sent there to check security, that is purely routine in connection with the terror attack (in Oslo).” A boat then carried him to the island.

An eyewitness to the Norway shootings said the youth felt relieved to see a police officer, since they had just gotten news of the Oslo bombing. “We then heard someone shout, ‘The police are here, we are now safe,'” Stine Renate Haheim told the BBC.

The tall, blond gunman wore a black uniform with red edges, official Adrian Pracon also told the BBC. He said the gunman resembled a Nazi.

The gunman rallied the kids and then began firing. Witnesses describe the scene as panic and chaos. Youth and officials not hit by bullets ran for cover. Campers hid where they could, some in the toilet areas, some in the underbrush. They sent texts begging for help but worried that ringing cell phones would give them away.

Others jumped in the water to escape. The gunman soon followed and shot at them. He pointed the gun at Pracon but spared him. Although police officials say the shooting lasted about 30 minutes, Pracon said the gunman returned about an hour later and resumed shooting. Bodies fell on him, and this time a bullet hit him in the shoulder. “Then he came closer, I could feel his breath, I could feel his boots, I could feel the warmth of the barrel,” he said.

By the time the Norway shootings ended, the gunman had killed 85 on Utoya Island. Police arrested a man at the scene. They have not released his name, but news agencies say he is 32-year-old Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik. Some reports describe Breivik, also a suspect in the Oslo bombing, as having right-wing extremist views.

In the first moments after the bombing, officials speculated that the attack may have an al-Qaeda connection. Breivik, however, reportedly has made anti-Muslim comments. The kids who stood in front of the gunman at Utoya Island only knew that the killer looked and spoke just like them.

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