COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The manifesto that the presumed New Zealand shooter published is shorter and “more sloppy” than the one written by a Norwegian right-wing extremist who killed 77 people in 2011, but expresses similar sentiments, a Swedish terror expert said Friday.
Magnus Ranstorp of the Swedish National Defense College says the shooter is against mass immigration and “has to some extent the same themes as (Anders Behring) Breivik,” who posted his 1,500-page manifesto online before carrying out his deadly attacks.
Ranstorp told Swedish radio Friday that the New Zealand shooter, who killed at least 49 people in two mosques in Christchurch on Friday, claims to “have been in contact with Breivik’s sympathizers.”
On July 22, 2011, Breivik killed eight people with a car bomb in Oslo and then opened fire at an island summer camp run by the left-wing Labor Party’s youth wing, killing 69. He is serving a 21-year prison sentence.