Norwegian Gunman Confesses -- Deadliest Attack By A Single Gunman In History
Jul. 24 2011, Published 10:14 a.m. ET
Anders Behring Breivik has confessed to the murder of 85 people, most of them children, in Norway. "He has said he believed the actions were atrocious, but that in his head they were necessary," his lawyer Geir Lippestad told reporters.
Breivik is also charged with setting off a bomb blast that killed seven in Norway's capitol, Oslo. It's unclear if he's also confessed to that crime.
The 32-year-old owner of an organic farming company was said by acquaintances to be on a "crusade" against the spread of Islam in Europe.
With a total of 92 killed, the attack is the deadliest by a single gunman in recorded history. And the number may still rise.
At his targeted summer camp on an island off Norway's coast, children ran into the sea in desperate attempts to escape Breivik, who fired on them for an estimated 90 minutes before police got to the scene. There are seven children still missing.
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"I heard screams. I heard people begging for their lives and I heard shots. He just blew them away," Erik Kursetgjerde, 18, told Reuters.
Breivik's lawyer said his client is looking forward to his first court date on Monday so that he can publicly offer up his reasons for his attacks.
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