Police in Oslo were piecing together what appears to be the brutal attempted murder of a man and his eldest son, carried out by the family’s younger 17-year-old son just before the weekend. The teenager’s stabbing attacks took place in the family’s home in the affluent Oslo neighbourhood of Bekkelaget.
On Thursday evening the teenager now in custody had played in a football match and was reportedly in good spirits. “It was all smiles, laughter and joy,” the coach of the football team told newspaper Aftenposten. The 17-year-old was described as a good student, a “leader type” and among the best players on the team. No one, according to the coach, noticed anything amiss.
On Friday morning, just after the mother in the family had left for work, the 17-year-old attacked his father and 19-year-old brother with a knife. The wounded father, now recovering in an Oslo hospital, managed to call police for help. His older son remained in critical condition during the weekend after being placed in an artificial coma.
Police had to break into the house when they arrived, and found the badly injured man and his son. The younger son was quickly arrested, charged with attempted murder and has since been admitted to hospital himself, for psychiatric examination. He has admitted to the stabbings but not to criminal responsibility for them.
“This is all very, very tragic,” the coach said. “Completely impossible to understand.” Grete Lien of the Oslo Police District told Aftenposten it was “natural” to order a physical and psychiatric examination of the 17-year-old. She said there were no indications he was under the influence of any controlled substances at the time of the stabbings. He was ordered held in custody for at least two weeks while the investigation proceeds.
newsinenglish.no staff
