(BBC) – A 42-year-old man has been arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder and terrorist acts after a shooting in the centre of Norway’s capital, Oslo.

Two people died and 21 were wounded early on Saturday in what police calls an “act of Islamist terrorism”. The shootings were in and near the London Pub, a popular LGBTQ+ venue, the Herr Nilsen jazz club and another pub.

Norway’s prime minister told the BBC the suspect was questioned in May, but was not deemed a threat at the time.
“We now need to see the result of an investigation,” PM Jonas Gahr Stoere told the BBC’s Newshour programme late on Saturday.

The shooting started at about 01:15 local time on Saturday (23:15 GMT Friday), officials said. Eyewitnesses said the suspect took out a gun from his bag and started firing, forcing terrified people to either throw themselves to the ground or flee.

The attacker was arrested by police officers – who were helped by bystanders – minutes later. Two weapons were retrieved at the crime scene by police, one of them a fully automatic gun.
The authorities later said the suspect was a Norwegian national. Of the 21 injured, 10 were in a serious condition.

The terror alert level in Norway has now been raised to its highest level, though the country’s PST intelligence service said it currently had “no indication” further attacks were likely.
Oslo’s annual gay Pride parade was due to be held on Saturday, and was formally cancelled on police advice.

But despite that, hundreds of people marched near the scene later in the day, shouting: “We’re here, we’re queer, we won’t disappear!”
“I think it’s fantastic that this march is taking place, otherwise he would have won,” one woman in her 50s told AFP news agency. Rainbow flags and flowers were laid near the scene of the attack, which was sealed off by police tape, and bystanders comforted each other with hugs.

The gunman was known to security services since 2015 as a “suspected radicalised Islamist”, and had a history of mental illness, Norway’s PST intelligence service said.
“There is reason to think that this may be a hate crime,” police said earlier. “We are investigating whether… Pride was a target in itself or whether there are other motives.”