Norway mosque attack suspect inspired by El Paso shooting: report

The suspected gunman in an attack on a mosque in Norway over the weekend was inspired by the Christchurch shooting in New Zealand and two recent mass shooting in the U.S., according to online posts analyzed by the Guardian.

Philip Manshaus, 21, stormed a mosque in Baerum, a town near Oslo, on Saturday. He was restrained by worshippers and no one was killed.

Police are investigating the shooting as a potential terror attack, per the Guardian.

In a post on the day of the shooting, Manhaus allegedly described himself as “chosen” by “Saint [Brenton] Tarrant”, the gunman who killed 51 people at mosques in New Zealand earlier this year.

“My time is up, I was chosen by Saint Tarrant after all … We can’t let this continue, you gotta bump the race war threat in real life … it’s been fun,” one post obtained by the Guardian reads.

Manhaus also allegedly praised Tarrant and two other suspected shooters in a meme.

Tarrant is described as having “addressed the Muslim problem." Patrick Crusius, who has been charged with last week's shooting in El Paso, Texas, which left 22 dead, is praised for “fighting to reclaim his country," according to the Guardian.

The meme also praised the attacker suspected of killing a woman at the Chabad of Poway synagogue in California in April.

The posts were both reportedly made on a new messaging board called Endchan, which describes itself as “an anonymous image-board that promotes ideas over identity,” and an older board called 4chan

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