Bærum mosque shooting
Failed terrorist attack on a Norwegian mosque From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bærum mosque shooting or Al-Noor Islamic Centre shooting occurred on 10 August 2019 at the Al-Noor Islamic Centre mosque in Bærum, Norway, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) west of the capital city Oslo. Philip Manshaus, a 21-year-old Norwegian man, shot and killed his ethnically Chinese adopted stepsister at their home. He then drove to the mosque and shot his way through the glass door before opening fire, hitting no one. He was subdued by three worshippers after a scuffle and turned over to police. Manshaus was convicted of murder and committing an act of terrorism, and sentenced to 21 years preventative detention – an order which, in Norway, can be extended indefinitely.
| Bærum mosque shooting | |
|---|---|
| Part of Right-wing terrorism in Europe | |
.jpg) Al-Noor Islamic Centre in Bærum | |
| Location | Al-Noor Islamic Centre, Bærum, Norway |
| Coordinates | 59.9200°N 10.4595°E |
| Date | 10 August 2019 approx. 16:00 (CEST UTC+02:00) |
| Target | Muslims |
Attack type | Far-right terrorism, sororicide, copycat crime |
| Weapons | |
| Deaths | 1 (before the shooting) |
| Injured | 2 (Rafiq and the perpetrator) |
| Perpetrator | Philip Manshaus |
| Defender | Mohammad Rafiq |
| Motive | Islamophobia |
| Convictions | Murder Committing a terrorist attack |
| Sentence | 21 years' preventive detention |
.jpg)
Before going to the mosque, Manshaus killed his younger stepsister while she was in her bed, firing three bullets into her head and one into her chest.[2] He was wearing a uniform and helmet when he entered the mosque,[3][4] shooting his way through the locked door.[5][6] Manshaus attempted to livestream the shooting on Facebook using a GoPro camera attached to his helmet, but failed.[7][8] He was carrying two rifles and a shotgun,[9][10] stolen from his father's gun cabinet.[11] He opened fire in the mosque, hitting no one.[12]
Prayers had just ended, with only three elders remaining in the mosque. One of the men, Mohammad Rafiq, approached the gunman and pinned him down, moving Manshaus's weapons away after he dropped them.[12][13] The two began to struggle, and the gunman poked Rafiq in the left eye.[13] Manshaus escaped from his grip 3 times, but was successfully recaptured.[12]
Another elder in the mosque, Mohamed Iqbal, hit the gunman on the head with his rifle to subdue him.[12][14] The police were called at 16:07 local time.[15] Another worshipper, Irfan Mushtaq, came to the mosque and helped restrain Manshaus by tying his legs together using the imam's shawl.[16][17]: 21:31 Manshaus was in a chokehold when police arrived at the mosque.[18]
Philip Manshaus (born 29 August 1997)[19] a 21-year-old Norwegian man, perpetrated the attack.[20][21] He lived in Bærum.[22][23] He was indicted for terrorism and murder.[24] His biological mother and grandmother died by suicide when he was four years old.[25] As a teenager, he had been in a gay relationship[26][27] and had a history of experimenting with drugs.[25][26] Manshaus had been interested in conspiracy theories since the summer of 2017.[28][29] He openly discussed with his friends antisemitic conspiracy theories about the Holocaust[28] and attempted to convince them of his beliefs, which led to his friends avoiding him.[26][28] His internet activity included him reading about school shootings in Finland and in the US.[28]
On 18 June 2018, a tip about Manshaus was sent to the PST, stating that he had far-right views and that his friends called him a neo-Nazi.[26] After coordinating with the local police department, Oslo Police District, they found that the tip was vague and showed no signs Manshaus had any plans to commit a violent attack. Manshaus was not interviewed and the tip was not followed up on.[26][30] Manshaus's family were not informed of the report.[26]
In the weeks before the attack, Manshaus had tried to join the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement, but due to an internal split in the organization he never got beyond the first of two planned initiation interviews.[28][31] Manshaus's family noticed he had attached newspaper clippings about the Christchurch mosque shootings, a swastika, and information on other terrorist attacks to his wall, and hid it behind a Norwegian flag.[26][32] After he learned his stepmother was considering reporting him to the PST, he took them down, and tried to seem as if he was no longer far right.[26] The day of the shooting, his stepmother decided to inform the police.[32]
Manshaus drafted a manifesto, but did not finish it.[33] Shortly before the shooting, Manshaus posted a message on the imageboard EndChan.[5][7] His message included statements telling people that "it's my time, i was elected by saint tarrant", asking those he was messaging to "bump the race war thread irl", and stating that "valhalla awaits".[34] The messages praised Brenton Tarrant, the perpetrator of the Christchurch mosque shootings in March 2019,[35] and referred to him as "saint tarrant".[36]
Attached to the message was a meme depicting Tarrant, Patrick Crusius, and John Earnest as "chads". All three perpetrated racially and/or religiously motivated mass shootings in 2019, including Crusius's attack on a Walmart in El Paso, Texas only a week earlier.[7] Manshaus's post also featured him describing himself as the "third disciple"; internet extremism researchers connected this with the rhetoric of Tarrant, suggesting the other 'disciples' were Earnest and Crusius.[37] Online, Manshaus expressed far-right, anti-immigration views, and praised Vidkun Quisling, who headed a domestic Nazi collaborationist regime during World War II.[6][38] Norwegian police reported that they spoke with Manshaus prior to the shooting due to his online behavior.[39] When questioned by police, Manshaus declared that his goal was to intimidate Muslims in Norway.[40]
Manshaus's 17-year-old stepsister, Johanne Zhangjia Ihle-Hansen, was found dead in their family home by police.[2][41][42] She was born in Jiangxi, China, and adopted at 9 months old by Manshaus's stepmother.[26][42] Manshaus stated in court that he killed her because she was not ethnically Norwegian.[43]
Ihle-Hansen sent various messages to others through the messaging app Discord expressing frustration and concern over Manshaus's views, and said she did not feel safe.[43] The day before her murder, she told her boyfriend that Manshaus listened to a speech that expressed racist views against those of Chinese descent, and stated that what she was going through was "madness".[26][43]
The injured man was 65-year-old Mohammad Rafiq. During the scuffle with the perpetrator, Rafiq overpowered and disarmed him before he could attack anyone else in the mosque.[6][24][13] He received minor injuries while the perpetrator tried to break free from a chokehold, including an attempt to gouge out Rafiq's left eye.[13][38][44] Rafiq is a Pakistani retired Air Force officer who had moved to Bærum to be with his son in 2017.[16] He was a frequent visitor to the Al-Noor Islamic Center.[13][45]
Arrest and charges
Norwegian police stated the day after the arrest that they were planning to give the perpetrator a mental health assessment.[46] Manshaus appeared in court two days after the shooting, with his face and neck marked by bruises and scratches.[47] The same day, in a court hearing in Oslo District Court, Manshaus was put in pre-trial jail for four weeks with no visitation, mail or media access. Manshaus declared himself not guilty and called for his release.[48]
Norwegian prosecutors formally charged Manshaus with murder and terror on 17 February 2020.[49] He later appeared in court on 7 May 2020, where he denied the charges.[50] Manshaus was found guilty of murder and terrorism on 11 June 2020. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison, with a minimum term of 14 years, along with a provision that he should be imprisoned indefinitely if he continued to be a threat to society.[9][50] Manshaus stated he would not appeal the charges, as he refused to recognize the legitimacy of the Norwegian courts.[25] In addition to his sentence, Manshaus was ordered to compensate his victim's families and pay their legal fees of 100,000 NOK (~9,000 USD).[50]
In 2023, Manshaus's lawyer asked for the criminal case to be reopened, citing new evidence that he had been admitted to a psychiatric ward with symptoms of psychosis, which, in her view, raised significant doubt as to whether he had been sane when he committed the shooting.[51] According to his lawyer, he had become physically aggressive in prison, shouting that God was speaking to him through other inmates. He reportedly had delusions where he believed that he was the reincarnation of Anders Behring Breivik, was the antichrist, and had authored the Bible.[52]
The case was re-opened March 2024, after experts assessed that he had been psychotic at the time of the crime, and that had this information been available when he was sentenced he would have been instead sentenced to compulsory mental health care. His defense lawyer stated that after he had received mental health care Manshaus distanced himself from his previous beliefs, and that when he was not psychotic he was aware his ideas were a result of mental illness. The commission dealing with his case agreed unanimously, and it was then sent to the court of appeal.[53][54] The report stated Manshaus had possibly had a "serious disorder" as far back as 2017.[54]
Communication issues
It was reported that when the members of the mosque called the police, the incident was initially classified as low-priority and the police would not respond; the men struggled to convey the situation to the operator due to poor Norwegian language skills.[55]
There were also claims that a user of an online forum had tried to notify the Norwegian police three times that he suspected an attack would happen, but that local police told him to call the FBI. Police say they are aware of this allegation, but that they are not aware of any such call.[56]
Authorities reported that security in Norway would be increased after the attack, as it occurred during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha,[57] with the Prime Minister raising the national security the following day.[13] The Al-Noor Islamic Centre had already added extra security after the Christchurch mosque shootings.[58] According to local Norwegian media, the mosque said that security would be improved again.[35]
The Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, condemned the attack.[57] Solberg and Abid Raja, a Liberal Norwegian politician, spoke together on the day of the attack, assuring the public that places of worship should be safe and calling for plans to break down Islamophobia in the country.[38] Another reaction to the incident was a speech given by Siv Jensen, the leader of the right-wing Progress Party, who also referred to Rafiq as a hero.[59] The day after the attack, on the Eid al-Adha celebration day, Solberg and other important figures, as well as the men from the mosque, attended a ceremony in solidarity held in Sandvika.[14][60]
As news of the shooting spread in the media, so did the actions of Rafiq and the other man in the mosque, which a Danish newspaper described as "courageous";[61] several media outlets described Rafiq as a "hero".[62]
A Norwegian philanthropist, Elisabeth Norheim, started a fundraising campaign[63] on a Norwegian crowdfunding website.[64] to help raise money so Rafiq and the other man who helped subdue the attack could undertake the hajj. After the initial goal of 55,000 NOK (~ 6100 USD) for the cost of the two to travel was surpassed,[44][65] with more than 180,000 NOK (~20,000 USD) raised in one day, the organizers said they could also fund the hajj for the third man in the mosque during the attack.[44] The fund raised was later passed the adjusted goal of 230,000 NOK (~25,000 USD).
On 15 August 2019, a ceremony was held at the Sandvika Police House to praise Rafiq and the other man for their actions.[66][67] It was hosted by Beate Gangås, the Oslo Police Commander-in-Chief, and Lisbeth Hammer Krogh, the mayor of Bærum.[67]
EndChan deleted the thread that Manshaus created, and had its primary web domain taken offline following the attack.[5]
It emerged during the 2022 parole hearing of Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of the 22/7 July attacks in Norway, that Breivik's lawyer wished for Breivik to serve his sentence with a cellmate. Breivik's lawyer requested that Manshaus be his cellmate, as he believed they would not harm each other.[68]
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