NORWAY: Adrian Pracon, a Utoeya shooting victim, recalls the terrifying experience as he prepares to the return to the island

Record ID: 1503466

  • Title: NORWAY: Adrian Pracon, a Utoeya shooting victim, recalls the terrifying experience as he prepares to the return to the island
  • Date: 20th August 2011
  • Summary: OSLO, NORWAY (AUGUST 19, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF UTOEYA SHOOTING SURVIVOR, ADRIAN PRACON, IN INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (English) UTOEYA SHOOTING SURVIVOR, ADRIAN PRACON, SAYING: "And I remember we ran towards the woods and suddenly we hear several gun shots behind us. We just hear the bullets passing over us. And that made us run for our lives. And as we were running we could hear the bullets hitting trees, we could also see people falling because they were shot." PRACON THROUGH VIDEO DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) UTOEYA SHOOTING SURVIVOR, ADRIAN PRACON, SAYING: "As I come out of the water, I have still water over my knees, I stop and realise that he is turning toward me and I remember the feeling that you feel trapped, you feel like you have no place to go, there is nothing you can do. And you just hope that he is going to hit me in the head or the heart to make it go fast. And everything I could say was: 'Don't shoot!'. That is all I could say." PRACON'S HANDS PAN FROM PRACON ON MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) UTOEYA SHOOTING SURVIVOR, ADRIAN PRACON, SAYING: "And suddenly it got quiet for a while and as I was laying there trying to just stay awake because I was, very, very cold and feeling that your eyes are closing up because you are freezing. So and the only thing I was thinking about was staying awake. And suddenly you see them doing the moves you don't want to see. They are ducking, they are jumping away, they are running away, they are trying to swim away but for no good. He comes out of the woods and they had nowhere to escape. So one after one they get killed." REFLECTION OF PRACON IN WINDOW (SOUNDBITE) (English) UTOEYA SHOOTING SURVIVOR, ADRIAN PRACON, SAYING: "And I remember laying there for a while and suddenly I could hear him placing his boots just right in front of my face. And I could also feel the warmth from the barrel that he was pointing at me and again I was thinking: 'Now it is over, now he got me, I am not that lucky three times!' So, I hear a loud bang, my ears start to beep, just a beeping noise in my ear. And I feel like someone punched me in the shoulder." CLOSE OF PRACON'S EYES (SOUNDBITE) (English) UTOEYA SHOOTING SURVIVOR, ADRIAN PRACON, SAYING: "And I feel like I am trying to keep it at a distance. And right now I am trying to get back to the feelings, back to the emotions, back to what I feel about this. It is going to be an extremely emotional day for me as I get back on the island and it is going to be something I really think I need. I believe I need to cry. And I need to feel what is really going on because, to be honest, I am still in denial of what is going on." VARIOUS OF PRACON DURING INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (English) UTOEYA SHOOTING SURVIVOR, ADRIAN PRACON, SAYING: "But it is very good for us, especially victims and especially the people that are left behind right now to not hear more from him. Maybe in some time we will be ready for it, but it is not the time now. And to be honest I don't want to hear anything more about his propaganda. He has spoken, it is over. And we have won." WIDE OF INTERVIEW
  • Embargoed: 4th September 2011 03:29
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Norway, Norway
  • Country: Norway
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA6S74EBXY1XF5WGY93LK20156Q
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: It was just after five p.m. on a Friday afternoon when twenty-one year-old Adrian Pracon was ready to take a break from manning the information stand of the Youth wing (AUF) of Norway's Labour Party.
    The AUF hold their annual summer camp on the island of Utoeya, about 45 minutes outside of Oslo.
    It was Adrian's first time as an attendee on the island as the leader of the Telemark regional section of the party and the young man with the spiky hair was excited to meet new people and spend some time in what he called the 'special' environment that is Utoeya.
    Adrian left the stand to stroll up the hill to the little shop that sold snacks and drinks. His friend phoned home to tell his parents he was well and Adrian remembers turning round to see a boat heading for the island.
    At five twenty-six police on the mainland got a phone call that there had been shots fired at the island youth camp.
    For Adrian, those first shots were just noises in the distance, until he saw people running.
    "And I remember we ran towards the woods and suddenly we hear several gun shots behind us. We just hear the bullets passing over us. And that made us run for our lives. And as we were running we could hear the bullets hitting trees, we could also see people falling because they were shot," he told Reuters TV.
    The events on Utoeya on July 22 are the worst attack on Norwegian soil since WW2. Sixty-nine mostly young people were killed on the island by self-proclaimed, anti-immigration zealot Anders Behring Breivik, who targeted the AUF for their open policies on immigration.
    On Saturday (August 19) Adrian and the other survivors of the brutal attack will revisit Utoeya for the first time. He still has 50-60 bullet splinters in his left shoulder, an unwelcome reminder of the moment Breivik shot him almost point blank with a machine gun.
    "As I come out of the water, I have still water over my knees, I stop and realise that he is turning toward me and I remember the feeling that you feel trapped, you feel like you have no place to go, there is nothing you can do. And you just hope that he is going to hit me in the head or the heart to make it go fast. And everything I could say was: 'Don't shoot!'. That is all I could say," he said.
    Adrian only asked Breivik once not to shoot him. He was soaking wet and choking from water in his lungs. Scores of Breivik's victims had fled through the woods and into the water. Adrian describes how people ahead of him stripped before jumping into the water. He leapt in fully clothed, being one of the last of the group.
    In a flash of memory he says, he remembers taking his phone out of his pocket and leaving on the shore so it wouldn't get wet.
    For reasons Adrian doesn't understand Breivik lowered his gun and walked away.
    "And suddenly it got quiet for a while and as I was laying there trying to just stay awake because I was, very, very cold and feeling that your eyes are closing up because you are freezing. So and the only thing I was thinking about was staying awake. And suddenly you see them doing the moves you don't want to see. They are ducking, they are jumping away, they are running away, they are trying to swim away but for no good. He comes out of the woods and they had nowhere to escape. So one after one they get killed," he said, staring resolutely at the camera.
    Adrian had already had two lucky escapes. He nearly drowned from trying to swim, fully clothed and with heavy boots on and then Breivik was upon him again.
    "And I remember laying there for a while and suddenly I could hear him placing his boots just right in front of my face. And I could also feel the warmth from the barrel that he was pointing at me and again I was thinking: 'Now it is over, now he got me, I am not that lucky three times!' So, I hear a loud bang, my ears start to beep, just a beeping noise in my ear. And I feel like someone punched me in the shoulder," he said.
    He was shot, but lived. Before he was rescued he pulled an injured girl out of the water and helped stem the bleeding in her leg. She also survived.
    Adrian was one of the people to send the alert over Facebook and Twitter. He recalls parents calling him begging to hear what was happening. All he could do was ask them to call the police but not to call their loved ones in case the ringing phones would alert Breivik to where they were hiding.
    When the armoured police arrived on the scene, people thought it was more shooters and tried to throw stones at them.
    Adrian was on one of the first boats to the safety of the mainland.
    Now, he with the survivors of the nearly 700 people present on the island on that day, is at the beginning of a long road to recovery.
    "But it is very good for us, especially victims and especially the people that are left behind right now to not hear more from him. Maybe in some time we will be ready for it, but it is not the time now. And to be honest I don't want to hear anything more about his propaganda. He has spoken, it is over. And we have won," he said.
    Visitors to the island are each being accompanied by a red cross worker. Adrian has no idea what he will feel. Away from the events he keeps busy with his dogs and work. He spent a week after the shootings in hospital and two days after his release he was back at work. It is something he needs, he says.
    But the mainland is not void of memories of that day.
    Papers run a continuous coverage and hardest of all for the victims was a the picture of Breivik on the island during a police reconstruction. Posing as he imitated shooting a victim.
    As the second hearing of Breivik ended on Friday, Adrian says it is time for the world to forget about him. It is time to focus on the future.
    "And I feel like I am trying to keep it at a distance. And right now I am trying to get back to the feelings, back to the emotions, back to what I feel about this. It is going to be an extremely emotional day for me as I get back on the island and it is going to be something I really think I need. I believe I need to cry. And I need to feel what is really going on because, to be honest, I am still in denial of what is going on!"
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