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At least two people were killed and more than a dozen were injured after a shooting on Friday night at an LGBTQ nightclub in central Oslo, local police said.
The shooting took place at a London pub, which has been self-proclaimed “gay headquarters since 1979,” Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported. The Pride Parade will be held on Saturday in Oslo. Police are also investigating two other places – a bar near London Pub and a fast food restaurant – in connection with the shooting, according to the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.
A spokeswoman for Oslo University Hospital told The Washington Post that the facility received seven patients, with another person sent to a hospital outside the Norwegian capital. Eleven people who suffered minor injuries were sent to local emergency rooms, he said.
Law enforcement said they had arrested a person near the scene of the shooting. They have not commented on any possible reason, although a police officer told NRK that they currently did not believe it was a terrorist incident and evidence suggests there was a lone gunman.
London Pub is located in the vicinity of the Storting, the Norwegian legislature. He has hosted Pride-related celebrations for years and on Thursday organized a drag show and a Pride-themed bingo session.
Organizers of the Oslo Pride wrote early on Saturday on social media that they were surprised by the incident and are in contact with police. Law enforcement is assessing the potential impact of the shooting at Saturday’s parade, Aftenposten reported.
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Norway has some of the most gay-friendly European laws. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store marked the 50th anniversary of the country’s decriminalization of same-sex relationships by apologizing formally for past treatment of the LGBTQ community.
“I apologize for the fact that the Norwegian authorities transmitted, through legislation, and also a number of other discriminatory practices, that gay love was not acceptable,” he said.
In July 2011, a Norwegian killed 77 people by planting a bomb in front of the prime minister’s office in Oslo and setting fire to a youth summer camp organized by left-wing Labor. Party, in one of the most heinous crimes in the Nordic country of recent memory. Since then, Norwegian lawmakers have banned semi-automatic weapons, such as the type of firearm used in the 2011 attack.