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Norway police involved in rare shooting

The Local Norway
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Norway police involved in rare shooting
It had been "many years" since Hordaland police fired their weapons. File photo: Vegard Wivestad Grøtt / NTB scanpix

Hordaland police fired two shots at a man who had barricaded himself inside his apartment, Bergens Tidende reported.

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Police officers unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate with the man, who was threatening to take his own life. 
 
“After a while the dialogue broke down. Police then shot a tear gas grenade in through the window and then moved into the apartment,” Kjersti Eidsnes of the Hordaland Police District told Bergens Tidende
 
When officers entered the residence, the man shot at them and police returned fire. 
 
Officers shot the man twice, hitting him once in the hand and once in the arm. 
 
Police said the 20-something man was intoxicated and mentally unstable. He was previously known to the police.
 
The two shots fired at the man equalled the number of shots fired by police in all of 2014. Neither of those shots killed or injured anyone and according to a comprehensive report on the use of police firearms released last year, Norwegian police have only shot and killed two people since 2002. 
 
Eidsnes said that although she did not have “concrete figures”, it has been “many years” since police in Hordaland had discharged their weapons in the line of duty. 
 
The man shot by police on Monday was taken to hospital and his injuries were not life-threatening. He is being charged with threatening the police, but according to Bergens Tidende it wasn’t immediately certain whether the gun he used to fire at officers contained live cartridges. 
 
The police have notified the Norwegian Bureau for the Investigation of Police Affairs about the rare shooting incident.

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