Iceland grieves after police kill a man for the first time in its history (2013)
It was an unprecedented headline in Iceland — a man
shot to death by police. "The nation was in shock. This does not happen in our
country," said Thora Arnorsdottir, news editor at RUV, the Icelandic
National Broadcasting Service. She was referring to a 59-year old man who was shot by
police in December 2013. The man, who started shooting at police when they
entered his building, had a history of mental illness.
It's the first time someone has been killed by armed police
in Iceland since it became an independent republic in 1944. Police don't even
carry weapons, usually. Violent crime in Iceland is almost non-existent. "The nation does not want its police force to carry
weapons because it's dangerous, it's threatening," Arnorsdottir
says. "It's a part of the culture. Guns are used to go hunting as a
sport, but you never see a gun."
In fact, Iceland isn't anti-gun. In terms of per-capita gun
ownership, Iceland ranks 15th in the world. Still, this incident was so
rare that neighbors of the man shot were comparing the shooting to a scene from
an American film. The Icelandic police department said officers involved will
go through grief counseling. And the police department has already apologized
to the family of the man who died — though not necessarily because they did
anything wrong.
"I think it's
respectful," Arnorsdottir says, "because no one wants to
take another person's life. " There are still a number of questions to be answered,
including why police didn't first try to negotiate with man before entering his
building. "A part of the great thing of living in this country is
that you can enter parliament and the only thing they ask you to do is to turn
off your cellphone, so you don't disturb the parliamentarians while they're
talking. We do not have armed guards following our prime minister or president.
That's a part of the great thing of living in a peaceful society. We do not
want to change that. "
Update, August 20, 2014: We checked back in with the
Icelandic Police to get an update on this shooting in December. The
superintendent says the police have not used firearms since.
