Attacks in Norway: the video game, eternal scapegoat killings

"This is a dominant feature in these murderers. They are fascinated by violent video games like World of Warcraft. These games consumed in high doses cause desensitization compared to the crime." For Stéphane Bourgoin, author of a survey of serial killers, the case is heard: in the double attack Norwegian, violent video games have been instrumental in the passage to the act of Anders Breivik Behring, the prime suspect the bombing and the shooting victims who made 76 in Oslo and on the island near the Norwegian capital. Interpretation adopted by several media in recent days.

"This is a classic, since the massacre in Littleton," irritated Mauco Olivier, CNRS researcher and expert on the relationship between video game and society. Subject of a documentary by Michael Moore, Bowling for Columbine, a shooting in a high school in the city of Colorado in 1999 sparked worldwide controversy about the impact of video games on adolescents. "At the time, Bill Clinton accused the game, but what is often forgotten is that he also called for an investigation in Congress to measure the impact of games on youth violence. And Congress had found no links between cause and effect. "

Like millions of other Europeans, Anders Breivik Behring loves video games. In his manifesto of 1500 pages, published on the Internet, he mentions some of his favorite games in a log book for the preparation of two attacks: Bioshock 2, Fallout 3, World of Warcraft, Dragon Age, and Modern Warfare 2. The latter, he writes that he "is probably the best military simulation market, and one of the best games of the year. [...] I see especially Modern Warfare 2 as part of my training. "

More than 90 killed in two attacks in oslo norway

Norway is in shock, Saturday, July 23, after the death of more than 90 people in two bloody attacks that took place Friday. "Not since the Second World War, our country had been hit by a crime of this magnitude," said Saturday the Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, calling the attacks a "national tragedy".

A balance always provisional. Friday afternoon in Oslo, one bomb devastated a neighborhood home to the Prime Minister's Office, who was not there at the time of the explosion, killing at least seven people, police said. Soon after, a man broke into a gathering of young supporters of the Labour Party, in power on the island of Utoya near the capital. Disguised as a police officer and claiming to want to ensure the safety of participants after the explosion of Oslo, he fired into the crowd, killing at least 84 dead according to the latest figures provided by police Saturday.

"A Utoya, we continue the search for possible victims in the waters [the lake]. In Oslo, saw the explosion and the impact it had, we are not certain that the outcome is final," he said Deputy Director of the Norwegian police.

Suspect charged. A suspect was arrested Friday night after the shooting, was indicted for the massacre on the island of Utoya but also for the bombing of Oslo, a Norwegian police said Saturday. The police said the suspect is a Norwegian "strain" 32 years old. Based on searches and research activities including the Internet, the investigators present him as a "Christian fundamentalist". The items posted by the suspect on the Internet suggest that "it has some features political leaning to the right and anti-Muslim but it is too early to say whether this was a reason for his action," the police commissioner Sveinung Sponheim.

For the purposes of the investigation, but police refused to disclose the name of the suspect, identified by the Norwegian media as Behring Anders Breivik. On his profile on Facebook, the man with the blond hair mid-length self-described "conservative" "Christian", single, interested in hunting and games like "World of Warcraft" and "Modern Warfare 2" .

Concerted attacks. The bombing and the shooting appears to be a concerted attack to hit the Scandinavian kingdom in the heart. Investigators suspect are responsible for both events but they do not rule out further arrests, said the deputy director of the Norwegian police.

Heard for miles around, the explosion in Oslo blew the windows of the office of Prime Minister Brown and the imposing tower was damaged on all fronts, allowing literally see right through the building. The images of Norwegian television showed completely disfigured buildings, sidewalks littered with broken glass, smoke rising from the area, many ambulances and wounded bleeding.

The police quickly cordoned off the area where a black car was on the side and where the alarms of buildings devastated in the air screaming while firefighters tried to contain a fire. A spokesman for the police quickly called the people of Oslo to "avoid large gatherings" and go home. "Dozens" of people were hospitalized for injuries of varying severity, he said. Police dogs spent combing the neighborhood looking for other possible explosives in a landscape of desolation.



A Utoya, explosives, explosive ordnance were also found, police said. Witnesses said the suspect, who was at the time of his arrest a pull stamped with the initials of the police, firing randomly while progressing on the small wooded island and tourism. As the shots rang out, panicked young desperate shelter, some fleeing into the woods, others diving into the lake. In the night, boats aided by helicopters searched for survivors in the water or on the lake, swept by the light of headlamps.