Fatal Attacks
January 23, 2009
A policeman on Friday, Jan. 23, shot and killed a female teacher in the parking lot of a school in the northern Norwegian town of Tromsoe and then turned the gun on himself.
Police said that the man and the woman were former lovers and had been living together. The man is in the hospital in critical condition.
"This was an experienced public servant with a long record of service," Tromsoe Police Chief Truls Fyhn told a news conference broadcast by NRK radio. He did not release the man's name or his position in the police force.
The shooting, which occurred as children were arriving for school, is believed to have been prompted by the couple's recent breakup.
Fyhn also said police were investigating whether the man had used his service weapon.
Horror at Belgian daycare
A tragic incident also occurred in Belgium on Friday as a man went on the rampage in a childcare center near Brussels, stabbing at least two children and one adult to death and slashing 10 other children all over their bodies.
A local prosecutor said a man killed at least two children and one woman, a staff member at the center, and was arrested soon after as he pedaled away on a bicycle.
Medical workers performed near a dozen operations to save the 10 badly wounded children.
The man, who had his face painted black and white, rang the doorbell at the daycare center early Friday morning. When staff opened the door, he ran upstairs and began attacking three of the children.
"The guy just went crazy," Theo Janssens, deputy mayor for social matters, said at a press conference. "There was blood everywhere, it was unbelievable, real carnage," he said as he explained that adults were injured as they tried to get between the attacker and the children. 10 people were sent to hospital with wounds.
"We are horrified by the events. Our thoughts go out to the families and staff. Many parents are in a state of shock," Interior Minister Guido De Padt said at the press conference.
Officials have set up a crisis center to help parents and staff cope with the tragic killings.