Man described Saturday how he played dead in order to survive the shooting spree of a gunman who pretended to be a police officer but then opened fired on youth at a camp on an island near Oslo.
Adrian Pracon, 21, an official with the Worker's Youth League, told the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten that he was on his way to a kiosk on Utoya Island, where the annual camp was being held, to buy chocolate and potato chips when he heard the ruckus.
"I did not realize that it was a shot at first, but then people started to run," Pracon, 21, told Aftenposten.
Many of the youth fled in panic across a clearing trying to reach their tents, Pracon said. But the gunman, who was "cool and controlled," went around "systematically" shooting those in the tents, and others who ran down to the water, Pracon told the newspaper. "It was as though he had done this kind of thing before, as if going round and shooting people was totally normal," Pracon said. "He said, 'You're all going to die.' "
Pracon said he and others gathered at the water's edge hoping that help would come. But the attacker tracked them down.
"He shot everyone in the group, one by one," the youth league leader told Aftenposten. "I lay on the ground and played dead. He came up to check that everyone was dead. He … was so close that I felt the warmth of his weapon."
Anders Behring Breivik, a 32-year-old Norwegian national, claims to be a fan of Winston Churchill, classical music, and gory movies like, "300," and "Gladiator," on his Facebook page.
He also claims on the page to be a fan of the sappy HBO vampire drama, "True Blood," and the serial killer show, "Dexter."
Breivik, who was reportedly a Free Mason at one time, has been fingered for the dual attacks that claimed more than 7 lives in the capitol of Oslo, and 80 campers on the island youth retreat of Utoya.
Authorities are still trying to decipher the motive for Friday's coordinated killings, but a rough portrait of Breivik as a politically-engaged man with strong views has emerged.
The youth camp on the island of Utoya is reportedly owned by the Norwegian Labor Party, while the Oslo bomb blast was outside a government office.
The shooter belongs to "right-wing circles" in Oslo, the city in which he resides, according to Norwegian TV2. Meanwhile, The Huffington Post cites the Swedish news site Expressen as saying that he is a "self-described nationalist who has also written a number of posts critical of Islam."
He studied at the Oslo Commerce School, an instituion devoted to business and financial management.
In published photos, the alleged killer is shown to don a half smile, preppy clothing, and piercing green eyes that stare into the camera.
The Huffington Post goes on to cite a Twitter account for Breivik, in which he chillingly quotes the philosopher John Stuart Mill, saying, "One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests." The tweet was posted on July 17 and was the only one attributed to the account.
Breivik may have used a front company, Breivik Geofarm, he founded in 2009 as an excuse to legally stockpile large quantities of fertilizer and other chemicals which he could have used to build the bombs, according to Norwegian news stations.
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