Showing posts with label rampage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rampage. Show all posts

Friday, July 29, 2011

Norway Terror Attack Suspect Faces Second Interrogation

The suspect - Anders Behring Breivik


CNN - Police are preparing to interview Anders Behring Breivik, the suspect in last week's terrorist attacks in Norway, for a second time on Friday.


Anders Behring Breivik is the suspect for the twin terror attacks in Norway. He's suspected of detonating a bomb outside governments buildings and opening fire at summer camp. Breivik appeared in court on Monday.


Breivik, who is being kept in solitary confinement at Ila Prison, near Oslo, was last interviewed Saturday, a day after a bomb blast outside government buildings in the Norwegian capital and a mass shooting on the island of Utoya claimed at least 76 lives. The prison held Nazi prisoners during World War II. "We are giving him pillow, sheet and shelter for a few weeks," the prison governor said.


Police attorney Pal-Frederick Hjort Kraby said police had since gained a considerable amount of new information and were ready to question Breivik again at police headquarters. He is likely to face more interrogations in the coming weeks.


Meanwhile, the search for more victims of Friday's shooting rampage on Utoya island has ended, Police Chief Johan Fredriksen said Thursday. However, later in the day, the police website said the search in the water around the island was ongoing. More than 50 investigators remained on the island and will likely remain there for several more weeks, officials said.


A key question is whether Breivik acted alone. "At this moment in time we don't think there are more people involved in this action, and we don't know whether there are more bombs," said Janne Kristiansen, director of the Norwegian intelligence police. But she downplayed the possibility of further carnage. "We think, more than likely, he has been on his own and nothing is going to happen here," she said. "So people should go on living their lives."


Technicians and explosives experts were still trying to figure out how big the bomb was that rocked a government building in downtown Oslo, killing eight people. Authorities had not yet determined whether the building could be restored or would need to be rebuilt, Kristiansen said.


She said Breivik acted lawfully during his preparations, registering his weapons and using his farm as a front to collect the fertilizer that powered the bomb. His meticulousness extended to his communications with others, even in his Internet messages, which were "very moderate," she said. 
"He has been what we call a lone wolf," she added. "With a lone wolf, they always operate alone, having no accomplices anywhere, and this is, obviously, what he has done."
But, she added, "We believe that he might have had contacts in the rest of the world and we're investigating this."


His primary goal: "The focus from the world press, which he now has," Kristiansen said. "He's totally evil, and he's using us, and he's using you -- especially the media -- to bring forward his voice."


Sixty-eight people are confirmed dead in the attack on the island, where a summer camp for the Labour Party's youth movement was taking place. As of Thursday, authorities had released the identities of 41 of the dead.


Breivik has admitted carrying out the bombing in Oslo, in which eight people died, and the shootings on Utoya, his lawyer and a judge have said. He has also pleaded not guilty.


He currently has contact only with his lawyer and the prison staff who take him food, Kraby said. The investigation is complex and it will likely be months before Breivik comes to trial, the lawyer added.


The suspect had spent a lot of time and money preparing for the attacks, the lawyer said, so it was important to be careful.


A government spokesman on the Justice Committee, Jan Bohler, predicted Breivik would receive an unconditional sentence, meaning one that would extend well beyond the theoretical maximum of 21 years set by Norwegian law, thereby ensuring he does not ever get out of prison. Norway does not have the death penalty.



Monday, February 14, 2011

28-hour Rampage in New York



BBC :
A man accused of killing four people in a 28-hour rampage in New York City has made a brief court appearance.

Ukrainian-born Maksim Gelman, 23, was charged in Brooklyn with stabbing his stepfather, ex-girlfriend and her mother to death, before fatally running over a pedestrian.

Public defender Michael Baum said Mr Gelman was now "calm" and "rational", but added he could not say anything about his mental state on Friday, when he is alleged to have committed the crimes.

Mr Gelman appeared in court wearing a white tracksuit, after his bloodstained clothing was kept by police as evidence. His wrists and ankles were in shackles.

The attacks are said to have begun around 0500 local time (1000 GMT) on Friday when Mr Gelman allegedly killed his stepfather, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, in Brooklyn's Sheepshead Bay neighbourhood.
The suspect had had a fight with his mother after she refused to allow him to use her car, a Lexus, and 54-year-old Mr Kuznetsov had intervened, police said.
Less than six hours later, at about 1030 local time, Mr Gelman went to his ex-girlfriend's home where he killed her 56-year-old mother, Anna BulchenkoYelena Bulchenko, 20, is said to have discovered her mother and called police. The attacker, who was still in the house, then chased her outside and stabbed her 11 times.
Police said he drove away in the Lexus, hitting another car in Brooklyn's Midwood neighbourhood. When the driver confronted him, Mr Gelman allegedly stabbed him three times in the chest. The victim survived and is in a stable condition. The suspect then allegedly hit a pedestrian, 62-year-old Stephen Tanenbaum, who died of his injuries.

At about 0100 local time on Saturday, the suspect confronted a cab driver in the Crown Heights area, stabbing him. He then approached a couple in a Nissan and stabbed the man in the hand several times before taking their car. Both men survived.
Later that morning, according to Commissioner Kelly's account, a passengers on an upper Manhattan train got off and told police officers a man fitting Mr Gelman's description had knocked a newspaper out of her hand and said: "Do you believe what they're writing about me?"
Police say Mr Gelman then got off the train, crossed the tracks and boarded a different train where he stabbed a passenger, Joseph Lozito"He's two or three feet away from me, and he pulls this knife out, looks me in the eye and says, 'You're gonna die'," Mr Lozito told the New York Post.
Mr Gelman then made his way up to the driver's compartment and knocked on it, claiming to be police, Commissioner Kelly said. A police officer in the driver's cab opened the door and wrestled Mr Gelman to the ground, knocking a knife from his hand before he was taken into custody.

Police described Mr Gelman as an unemployed drug user with 10 previous arrests, mostly linked to graffiti and drugs.

He was born in Ukraine, and he and his mother became US citizens about five years ago, Commissioner Kelly said.