On July 22, 2011, the attacks in Oslo and on the island of Utøya shook Norway and the world. The right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people. The timeline of the day that changed Norway.
It is the most serious act of violence in Norway since the end of the Second World War: on July 22, 2011, right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik carried out two attacks: First, he set off a bomb in Oslo’s government district. Eight people are killed in the process. Then Breivik continues his terrorist train and drives to the island of Utøya, where a summer camp of the youth organization of the Social Democrats is taking place. 69 people died in the massacre on the island.
July 22, 2011 shocked not only Norway, but the world as well. Breivik has never regretted his actions, spoke of “Self-defense”. After a long trial, he was sentenced to 21 years in prison with subsequent preventive detention – the maximum sentence in Norway.
Timeline: It happened on July 22, 2011 in Norway
What exactly happened on July 22nd, 2011? The events of the day that changed Norway in the timeline – minute by minute.
8.29 a.m.:Anders Behring Breivik makes his final preparations by sending an email to himself.
11.10 a.m.: Former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland gives a speech on Utøya.
12.03 p.m.: Breivik parks his getaway car at Hammersborg Torg in central Oslo. Surveillance cameras show Breivik walking downtown.
12.13 p.m.: Breivik takes a taxi to his mother’s apartment.
2:08 p.m.: The terrorist’s manifesto is published.
2:19 p.m.: A van driver has an accident on the Bygdøylokket road. Long clean-up work creates traffic jams. These traffic jams mean that Anders Behring Breivik is late on his way to Utøya.
2:50 p.m.: Gro Harlem Brundtland leaves Utøya.
3:04 p.m.: The delivery truck with the bomb drives towards the government district.
3:16 p.m.: The van is parked in front of the “The high block”, a skyscraper in the government district that also houses the prime minister’s office.
3:17 p.m.: A “police officer” gets out of the car. It’s Anders Behring Breivik in disguise. It is filmed by surveillance cameras.
3:18 p.m.: Breivik goes to his getaway car.
3:19 p.m.: A witness sees that “police officers” drive away.
3:25 p.m.: The car bomb exploded in the government district. Downtown Oslo is shaken.
3:26 p.m.: The police registered the explosion. First film recordings of the destruction are made.
3:27 p.m.: The radio station brings breaking news about the explosion in the government district.
3.28/29 p.m.: The first patrol car arrives at the site of the explosion. A little later, a mass alarm from the police follows.
3:31 p.m.: The security center in the government district sounds the alarm.
3:33 p.m.: The special unit “Delta” the Norwegian police is activated.
3:34 p.m.: The above witness contacted the police and from a Nordic-looking man he saw in police uniform and armed with a pistol. It’s about Breivik. Other witnesses later report similar things.
3:58 p.m.: The Norwegian news agency NTB reports that Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg is safe and unharmed.
4:04 p.m.: Oslo’s police ask the criminal police to start a nationwide manhunt for Breivik’s getaway car.
4:22 p.m.: Breivik is on the way to Utøya. He is detected by a speed camera near the exit to the island.
4.40 p.m.: Breivik parks his car at the ferry terminal in Utvika. According to his own account, he stays in the car for several minutes and thinks about it.
4.43 p.m.: The police are sounding a nationwide alarm. Breivik is now being searched all over Norway.
4:57 p.m.: The captain of the “MS Thorbjørn” – the boat that sails between Utøya and the mainland – is told that a police officer wants to cross over to Utøya.
5:04 p.m.: The “MS Thorbjørn” leaves the quay from the ferry terminal in Utvika in the direction of Utøya with Breivik on board.
5:08 p.m.: The ferry docks at Utøya. The first people Breivik kills are Utøya’s manager Monica Bøsei and the police officer Trond Berntsen, who was hired as a security guard. Breivik begins his massacre.
5.24 p.m.: The first reports of the shooting are received by the AMK rescue center.
5:25 p.m.: The “MS Thorbjørn” leaves Utøya. There are six camp participants on board. One of the camp participants answers the emergency number and reports about the shots on the island.
5:25 p.m.: The police are informed of the shots on Utøya. There are several reports of the shooting.
5.30 p.m.: “Delta” is ordered to Utøya.
5:32 p.m.: First members of the government receive news of the shots on Utøya.
5:38 p.m.: Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg speaks out publicly for the first time.
5.40 p.m.: Nordre Buskerud Police District is asking Oslo for help. They report that a man in police uniform shot and killed several people with an automatic weapon on Utøya.
5:51 p.m.: The first police officers arrive in Utvika. They hear gunshots from the island.
5:58 p.m.: “Delta” misses an exit on the way to Utøya, drives too far and has to turn back.
5:58 p.m.: A boat of the Nordre Buskerud police is launched.
5:59 p.m.: Breivik calls the police to surrender. He poses as the commander of Anders Behring Breivik “Norwegian anti-communist resistance movement” in front. The call is interrupted and the operations center cannot call the number again. Probably because there was no SIM card in the mobile phone and Breivig used the emergency call function.
6:05 p.m.: The first unit of “Delta” arrives at the meeting point in Storøya. There was confusion about the right place to meet.
6.09 p.m.: A police boat arrives at the meeting point in Storøya.
6:16 p.m.: The boat with several police officers has engine problems in the middle of the fjord. Private boats have to transport the police to Utøya.
6:26 p.m.: Breivik calls the police again to surrender.
6:26 p.m.: “Delta”-Specialists enter Utøya.
6.30 p.m.: The Oslo police confirm that there is a shooting on Utøya.
6:33 p.m.: Breivik is arrested in a forest near the southern tip of the island. The police fear he is wearing a bomb belt and are on the verge of fatally shot him in the head.
6.50 p.m.: The criminal police are sounding the alarm across the country as Breivik suggests two more terrorist cells. It turns out to be a false alarm.
7:38 p.m.: The Deputy Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim is holding a press conference. He reports that there are now seven dead and two seriously injured after the explosion in Oslo.
8.42 p.m.: In another press conference, Sponheim announced that a person was arrested on Utøya.
9:38 p.m.: Sponheim confirms ten dead on Utøya.
10.30 p.m.: Jens Stoltenberg appears before the press. “Today Norway was hit by two cowardly and bloody attacks. We don’t know who is behind this”, said Stoltenberg.
11.20 p.m.: The police confirm that the terrorist is a Norwegian.
July 23, 2011, 3:50 a.m.: Police director Øystein Mæland announces at a press conference that the number of dead “at least 80” and that the numbers may increase. However, this number was revised down to 76 on the following Monday. On July 29, the number of deaths was given as 77.
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