Anders Behring Breivik: “I lost my entire family”
Anders Behring Breivik during his trial in Oslo, Norway.
On the final day of personal testimony from Anders Behring Breivik at his trial, the shooter told the families of his victims that he too had lost family and friends in the massacre.
Breivik, who is on trial for killing 77 people last July in Norway's worst massacre, said, “When people say they have lost their most beloved, I also lost my entire family, I lost my friends. It was my choice. I sacrificed them, but I lost my entire family and friends on 22 July. I lost everything. So to a certain extent, I understand,” according to The New York Times.
The self-described anti-Islamic militant explained in detail his shooting spree in the wooded Utoya Island, where he murdered 69 mostly teenagers attending a Labor Party youth camp, hunting them down as he went.
Last week, Breivik told the court he prepared himself for the attacks by playing World of Warcraft and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
Showing no remorse, Breivik said his plan was to kill as many people as possible, the BBC reported, and that he had called police with the intention of surrendering.
But when the police did not call him back, he decided "I will carry on until I die."
Adding, he tried not to kill "many" people under the age of 16 because they appeared to be minors, wrote the BBC.
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“If I were within 5 to 10 meters I would use the Glock. If I was further away, I would use the rifle,” he said, according to The New York Times.
“I have never experienced anything so gruesome. It was probably even more horrendous for those I was hunting. But it was necessary. Yes, it was necessary”
The court must determine if Breivik was insane when he started the shootings.
Reuters reported, that ahead of the trial, one court-appointed team of psychiatrists concluded Breivik was psychotic while a second found him mentally capable.
If Breivik is deemed sane, he could face a 21-year prison sentence that can be indefinitely extended.
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