It started with a few flower bouquets on Sunday, when news broke that a juvenile care worker had been brutally murdered on the job by a young man. By Tuesday morning the flower tributes had expanded, as police continue their investigation into what they’ve classified as a terrorist attack.
The deadly attack was classified as terror, police and prosecutors said, after the 18-year-old assailant told police he intended to attack other people as well. He needed help to live on his own as an adult, but also made it clear during questioning that he disliked Muslims and claimed his attack on one of his helpers, 34-year-old Tamima Nibras Juhar, was “politically motivated.”
The terrorist attack is the latest to shake Oslo, which has been the site of others over the years including the bombing of government headquarters and massacre on the island of Utøya, along with a Muslim’s attack on people attending Pride celebrations three years ago. This one, involving a young man targeting a Muslim woman, has also raised serious questions of workplace safety and how police handled tips they’d received that the assailant had right-wing extremist views and seemed to have become radicalized.
He was an immigrant himself in Norway, born in Germany and later emigrating as a child to Norway from an unidentified country in Eastern Europe. The assailant, who has not been publicly identified in line with media practice in Norway, still has a German passport and is not a Norwegian citizen. He reportedly lived with foster parents in a small town in eastern Norway but returned to Oslo last year, where the Bjerke district arranged for his care at the residential institution in Kampen because he needed help in living on his own after turning 18.
“It must not be dangerous to go to work to help others,” newspaper Aftenposten editorialized on Tuesday. Much the same has already been said by the leader of Oslo’s city government, labour union officials and Norway’s justice minister. It remained unclear whether police and its intelligence unit PST had warned the private company operating the residential center, Gemt AS. He’d been on police radar for several months but was not believed to pose a threat. PST also reportedly has at least 3,000 other people on its watch list, making it a challenge to follow them all.
Murder weapon recovered
Police reported on Tuesday that they have seized the knife used in the murder, and said the defendant was still carrying it when he was arrested a few hours after his attack. Police and state labour officials were also investigating whether Gemt has broken any labour laws. Gemt leader Line A Skavhaug said the company is now following up everyone involved but hasn’t responded to specific questions.
Some of the victim’s friends told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Tuesday that she was afraid to go to work because of earlier incidents involving the man who murdered her. She also had reportedly alerted her employer, and her family’s lawyer said they also were aware that she was worried when she went to work because of how he had treated her. He has told police he killed her because she was an immigrant (from Ethiopia) with Muslim background.
“The question is what her employer knew,” the family’s lawyer, Anette Skjerven Arnkværn, told NRK. Police confirm that they are investigating Juhar’s experiences on the job and will chart contact between the young man and the victim.
Her family, meanwhile, has issued statements of hope and that something good can come out of Tamima Nibras Juhar’s death. “Hate must be met with love,” they wrote in a statement. “Norway should be a safe country for everyone, regardless of religion or skin colour. The family hopes this tragedy can remind us all to take care of the values our society is built upon: safety, respect and equality. May her memory inspire (us) to stand up against racism and violence with strength, fellowship and love.”
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
