In southwest Norway, in October 2021, a deadly bow and arrow attack in Kongsberg led to a fatal outcome for five people and triggered a prolonged legal process. A Norwegian court later sentenced the 38-year-old suspect to indefinite commitment in a mental hospital, as the proceedings concluded.
The Buskerud district court determined that Espen Andersen Bråthen, a Norwegian-born individual who held Danish citizenship, was not criminally responsible for his actions. The court found him to be mentally ill, aligning with the positions previously stated by both the prosecution and the defense during the trial.
Bråthen was convicted of eleven counts of attempted murder in addition to the fatal incidents. He reportedly experienced hallucinations surrounding the events and believed he remained in a psychotic state, suggesting ongoing treatment and supervision would be necessary for the foreseeable future.
Long before the attack Bråthen had a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. He carried out the attack in central Kongsberg using a bow and arrows and later killed five people at multiple locations, including public spaces and private homes, with bladed weapons after abandoning the bow.
Norwegian intelligence services had flagged concerns about radicalization in 2015. In 2018 they engaged with Bråthen following a video posted online in which he issued threats and reaffirmed his claimed religious identity. Authorities later concluded that Bråthen did not fit the profile of a radical Islamist and warned that he faced significant mental health challenges.
Initial considerations of an Islamic terrorism motive were reevaluated after the investigation and subsequently set aside, as investigators found the actions did not align with typical practices of Islamic culture and religion.
The Bråthen case prompted critiques of how police and health services managed the situation, particularly regarding the care of a person who had been admitted to a mental institution on several occasions. Bråthen escaped from two agents and was eventually apprehended after about forty minutes of pursuit.