2022 Oslo shooting

On the night of 25 June 2022, a shooting occurred at locations associated with Oslo Pride, including the London Pub, a well-known gay bar and nightclub, the nearby bar Per på hjørnet, and a takeaway restaurant between the two. The attack took place the night before Oslo's planned pride parade. A witness reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar" as he began firing. He used a Luger P08 handgun, firing eight rounds, followed by an MP 40 submachine gun, firing ten rounds in bursts before it jammed. As he attempted to flee and reload, civilians tackled and struggled with him on Kristian IVs gate; he fired his handgun once more during the struggle before being disarmed and overpowered. Police were called at 01:15 local time and detained the suspect within minutes.

In total, eleven people were directly shot, with several more injured amid the chaos, for a combined toll of two dead and twenty-one wounded. Ten of the injured were critically hurt and eleven sustained minor injuries. The two men killed were 60 and 54 years old, both residents of Bærum; one died at the London Pub and the other at Per på hjørnet. Oslo University Hospital declared a red alert following the attack. Between 80 and 100 people hid in the pub's basement during the shooting.

Police stated at a press conference on 25 June 2022 that they believed the attack was motivated by anti-LGBT hate and aimed at Oslo Pride. The suspect was identified as Zaniar Matapour, a 42-year-old Norwegian Kurd born in Iran who had lived in Norway since 1991. He was charged with murder, attempted murder, and acts of terrorism. Matapour had a prior criminal record involving drug and assault offenses and had reportedly been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia; police said they had known of him since 2015 and believed he had been radicalized into Islamic extremism. His trial began on 12 March 2024, and on 4 July 2024 he was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison (forvaring), with a minimum term of 20 years, described in media as the harshest sentence in modern Norwegian history.

Investigators separately examined a suspected facilitator, Arfan Bhatti, an Islamist extremist with prior violence convictions who had reportedly posted a call to kill LGBT+ people online days before the attack. Bhatti was named a suspect in September 2022, and a trial against him as an alleged facilitator began on 2 September 2025. A lower court verdict handed down in January 2026 sentenced Bhatti to at least 30 years' imprisonment; he has appealed.

The planned pride parade and related events in Oslo were cancelled after the shooting, though thousands attended a makeshift parade under police protection. Norway temporarily armed its police nationwide and raised its terror alert to the highest level. Norwegian and international leaders, including Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, King Harald V, and White House spokesperson John Kirby, condemned the attack and expressed solidarity with the LGBT community.