Breivik describes hunting down panicked teens

Defendant Anders Behring Breivik, centre, in court at the start of the 5th day of his mass killing trial in Oslo, Norway, April 20, 2012. / AP Photo / Heiko Junge, POOL

(AP) OSLO, Norway - In testimony too graphic for any parent to hear, Norwegian far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik shocked an Oslo courtroom Friday as he calmly described hunting down teenagers on an island summer camp.

As his words rolled out, survivors and victims' relatives of the July 22 massacre hugged and sobbed, trying to comfort each other. That testimony was also broadcast to 17 other courtrooms in Norway where others affected by the attacks were gathered, but was not carried live on Norwegian television.

The 33-year-old Norwegian left out no detail from his rampage, explaining how he shot panicked youths at point-blank range. Sixty-nine people, mostly teenagers, were killed on Utoya island and others only survived by diving into chilly waters to escape.

Breivik said he did not anticipate his victims' reactions.

"Some of them are completely paralyzed. They cannot run. They stand totally still. This is something they never show on TV," Breivik said. "It was very strange."

Breivik studied al Qaeda before rampage
Norway mass killer wanted to decapitate pol
Breivik: Give me death or acquittal

Breivik has admitted to setting off a bomb July 22 in Oslo, killing eight people, before opening fire to the governing Labor Party's annual youth camp on Utoya island. But he has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges, saying his victims had betrayed Norway by embracing immigration.

The main goal of the trial, now in its fifth day, is to figure out whether Breivik was sane or insane — two official reports have come to opposite conclusions on that point.

Looking tense but focused, Breivik spoke calmly about the shooting rampage, beginning with the moment he took a small ferry to Utoya, an island in a lake outside Oslo. He was disguised as a policeman, carrying a rifle and a handgun. He also brought drinking water because he knew he would get a dry throat from the stress of killing people.

Breivik's first two victims were Monica Boesei, a camp organizer, and off-duty police officer Trond Berntsen, a security guard.

Special Section: Massacre in Norway

"My whole body tried to revolt when I took the weapon in my hand. There were 100 voices in may head saying 'Don't do it, don't do it,"' Breivik said.

But he did.

He said he pointed his gun at Berntsen's head and pulled the trigger. He shot Boesei as she tried run away. Then as they lay on the ground, he shot them both twice in the head.

The first shot was "extremely difficult," he declared, saying he then entered a "fight-and-flight modus" that made it easier to continue the killing spree.

Breivik said he couldn't remember large chunks of the approximately 90 minutes he spent on the island before surrendering to police commandos. Still, he recalled some of the shootings in great detail, including inside a cafe where he mowed down young victims as they pleaded for their lives.

Some teenagers were frozen in panic, unable to move even when Breivik ran out of ammunition. He changed clips. They didn't move. He shot them in the head.

Others pretended to be dead. He said he shot them, too.

Breivik continued his rampage around the island, luring youth from their hiding places by telling them he was a police officer who was there to protect them. When they came out, he gunned them down.

He said his goal was to kill all of the nearly 600 people on the island. He said he had thought about wearing a swastika on his chest as a pure fear factor, but decided against it because he didn't want people to think he was a Nazi.

"'You will die today Marxists,' I yelled," Breivik recalled.

His testimony was physically revolting. Inside the Oslo court, a man who lost his son on the island closed his eyes hard, squeezing them shut. Another man to his left put a comforting hand to his shoulder. A woman to his right clutched onto him, resting her forehead against his arm.

Breivik said he was deliberately using "technical" language as a way to keep his composure.

"These are gruesome acts, barbaric acts," he said. "If I had tried to use a more normal language I don't think I would have been able to talk about it at all."

Earlier, Breivik said he took to the Internet to learn how to carry out his bombing-and-shooting rampage, studying attacks by al Qaeda, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

The confessed mass killer told the court he paid close attention in particular to the World Trade Center bombing in New York and McVeigh's 1995 attack on an Oklahoma City government building, which killed 168 people and injured over 600.

Breivik also said he had read more than 600 bomb-making guides.

He called the Islamist al Qaeda "the most successful revolutionary movement in the world" and said it should serve as an inspiration to far-right militants, even though their goals are different.

"I have studied each one of their actions, what they have done wrong, what they have done right," Breivik said of al Qaeda. "We want to create a European version of al Qaeda."

Comparing himself to a Japanese "banzai" warrior during World War II, Breivik said too many Norwegian men were "feminized, cooking food and showing emotions."

A lawyer for the victims noted that Breivik himself had cried on the first day of the trial as prosecutors showed an anti-Muslim video he had created.

"I wasn't prepared for that film," Breivik said. "It's a film that represents the fight and everything I love."

Breivik has admitted to the bombing in Oslo that killed eight people and the shooting massacre at the Labor Party youth camp that left 69 dead. He claims to belong to an alleged anti-Muslim "Knights Templar" network. Many groups claim part of that name, but prosecutors say they don't believe the group described by Breivik exists.

If declared sane, Breivik could face a maximum 21-year prison sentence or an alternate custody arrangement that would keep him locked up as long as he is considered a menace to society. If found insane, he would be committed to psychiatric care for as long as he's considered ill.

Christin Bjelland, a spokeswoman for a massacre support group, was horrified by Breivik's testimony.

"I'm going back to my hometown tonight," she told The Associated Press. "My husband, he's going to drive me out to the sea, and I'm going to take a walk there and I'm going to scream my head off."

[David_Tampa]

In the US most people who are staunch capitalists are broke.

[tmittelstaed]

This is a guy who is expecting to die, assuming he's going to die and completely unafraid of dying.

This is also a guy who is completely amoral.

He fits all the classic definitions of a mass murderer.

I question that Norway really knows how to handle him. Here in the US, we have a guy like him named Charles Manson. Although Manson legally could be paroled, there's enough people in California who understand the mentality of people like Manson that he never will be released.

Norway would be best to declare him insane as quickly as possible and stick him into a maximum security psychactric ward and throw away the key. Why they persist in allowing him to have a forum to continue blathering on and on is idiotic. They obviously are in way, way over their heads.

[MagnaCartaUK]

Try this link: www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1384308 This is an example of one Norway's very comfortable and rather 'enlightened' prisons along with its re-offending statistics. Some may have heard of Bastoy Prison, others not, but take a look anyway, LOl, and a deep breath if your more in favour of severe punishment. However you feel about it, It's interesting article. Not too 'off topic' I hope.

[cbs_bull]

The Christian extremists are little different from Islamic fanatics. Both can become dangerous terrorists. They're the enemy of humanity and law-abiding citizens, including those practicing their faith peacefully.

[AnnieDanny]

What a bunch of crap. Trying to lump this guy in with Christians? You anti-Christ types are as biased as any racist - and basically full of it. And trolling for trouble, you don't care about any kind of truth in your efforts to get rid of God. The Bible says, "In professing to become wise they have become fools." And, "The fool has said in his heart, 'there is no God.'"

You're way off topic.

[notyrants]

JustSayIt April 20, 2012 2:01 PM EDT
They should honestly hold this trial behind closed doors and not allow this guy any forum to spread his diseased message. This reporting and stories about his every word is what he wants in order to get his message out. Cut that off at the knees and hold it privately. No news, no tv, nothing. This is his stage and it was his aim by killing so many innocents, and he's getting it.
-----------------
I don't believe in covering for him anymore than hiding the caskets returning from war. The world is better off with full engagement and participation of as many human beings as possible than to allow a few to work behind the scenes doing evil while looking good on the surface. Expose him whether or not it gives him an erection. Let everyone see the face of one who tells others "you are going to die today Marxists" The people should see the Neo Nazis on the U.S. border as well as see where this extremism begins in KOCH funded propagandist organizations like "Americans for Prosperity" , The "Heritage Foundation", CATO institute etc.

[notyrants]

He called the Islamist al Qaeda "the most successful revolutionary movement in the world" and said it should serve as an inspiration to far-right militants, even though their goals are different.
-------------
Not really, same DNA, just a different team.

[notyrants]

Earlier, Breivik said he took to the Internet to learn how to carry out his bombing-and-shooting rampage, studying attacks by al Qaeda, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
---------------------
All examples of extreme right wing control freaks.

[notyrants]

smittyc April 20, 2012 4:07 PM EDT
Norways society is trapped by its own laws. This man deserves to be executed for murdering all those people.
-------------
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth does nothing but appease people as sick as he is. He is a testament to the fanaticism spouting forth from radical ideologues here in the U.S. The morally bankrupt self righteous radicals who have been pointing the finger at those whose values do not follow their extreme rigidity. Demonizing the name liberal, calling others marxist and behaving as though capitalism is a term in the constitution and of God. These people can look in the face of this sociopath and see themselves and know they hold his values which is death to others no different than the haters of the Taliban.

[notyrants]

"'You will die today Marxists,' I yelled," Breivik recalled.

These are the tea party people. Extreme radicals who are nothing less sociopaths hiding behind the flag, the constitution and the concept of patriotism.

[Joe4242]

notyrants, I'm not sure how this guy's actions prove that people who want smaller government want to kill their political opponents. Your foaming-at-the-mouth generalizations and hatred of your political opponents seems to give you a lot more in common with Breivik than the tea party.
I can sympathize with the teat party although I'm not one of them. I want smaller government, but I don't hate my political opponents. I must admit, I do hate mass murderers like Breivik. You seem to have a complete lack of civility, but I don't even hate you. You seem to be full of burning hatred.

[tvwatcher5345]

i wonder if congressthing allen west approves of breivik's work