Prologue

Abstract

It was late in the afternoon of 22 July 2011 that Anders Breivik began to kill people. He was dressed as a policeman, and he had just landed on the Norwegian island of Utøya, where a summer camp was being held. He called to the youths near him to gather around, and when they did he shot them. And he then went around the island, shooting everyone he met. He used hollow-point bullets to cause as much internal damage as possible, and to ensure that no one survived, he came back later and shot everyone lying on the ground in the head. Some survivors later reported that he seemed to be enjoying himself, smiling and humming as he went. By the time the police arrived, he had killed 69 people. And when the police arrested him, his main concern, as he stood amid the carnage, was a cut on his finger—he asked the police for a plaster.¹