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The Narsaq massacre was a
During a New Years party after the turn of the year 1989 to 1990, student Abel Klemmensen got involved in a dispute with his best friend for taking the side of a girl he was angry at. Feeling betrayed, he then went home and later returned to the party with a semiautomatic rifle with the intention to kill all attendants of the party and commit suicide afterwards. The disgruntled perpetrator then opened fire in a boarding house complex in Ungbo, being used as a club, and aimed for people's heads.
In two rooms on the first floor he shot three women and four men, including his own brother, who was wounded by a shot through the cheek. While walking downstairs to the living room he shot a fourth woman. He had fired eleven rounds and hit all of his victims in the head.
Three men and two women died at the scene, while two more women died in the local hospital. All seven died from shots to the head, specifically the face, while another victim was critically wounded with another head or face injury from the weapon. After the tragedy, Klemmensen then went home to sleep, where he was later arrested by police and placed in custody.
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mass shooting
There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four victims of gun violence (not including the shooter or in an inner city) in a short period of time, although an Australian study from 20 ...
on 1 January 1990, during a party in Narsaq
Narsaq is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The name ''Narsaq'' is Kalaallisut for "Plain", referring to the shore of Tunulliarfik Fjord where the town is located.
History
People have lived in the area for thousands o ...
, a southern Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...
town in the municipality of Kujalleq
Kujalleq ( Greenlandic: , da, Den Syden, lit=The South) is a municipality on the southern tip of Greenland, operational from 1 January 2009. The administrative center of the municipality is in Qaqortoq (formerly called Julianehåb).
Creation
...
, south of the island's capital of Nuuk
Nuuk (; da, Nuuk, formerly ) is the capital and largest city of Greenland, a constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the country's largest cultural and economic centre. The major cities from other coun ...
. Seven people were killed and one was critically wounded in the worst mass shooting in the autonomous constituent country's history.
Background
Greenland has a high murder rate and the highest suicide rate in the world. The country only has one closed prison, Ny Anstalt which is located in Nuuk, so people who commit serious crimes are often known to walk free unless they are transported to Ny Anstalt, a Danish prison or another facility.Narsaq
Narsaq is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The name ''Narsaq'' is Kalaallisut for "Plain", referring to the shore of Tunulliarfik Fjord where the town is located.
History
People have lived in the area for thousands o ...
, with around 1,300 people of mostly Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
ethnicity, is one of the largest towns in Greenland. The town contains one small hospital and a police station. Greenland had 18 homicides in 1989.
Shooting
During a New Years party after the turn of the year 1989 to 1990, student Abel Klemmensen got involved in a dispute with his best friend for taking the side of a girl he was angry at. Feeling betrayed, he then went home and later returned to the party with a semiautomatic rifle with the intention to kill all attendants of the party and commit suicide afterwards. The disgruntled perpetrator then opened fire in a boarding house complex in Ungbo, being used as a club, and aimed for people's heads.
In two rooms on the first floor he shot three women and four men, including his own brother, who was wounded by a shot through the cheek. While walking downstairs to the living room he shot a fourth woman. He had fired eleven rounds and hit all of his victims in the head.
Three men and two women died at the scene, while two more women died in the local hospital. All seven died from shots to the head, specifically the face, while another victim was critically wounded with another head or face injury from the weapon. After the tragedy, Klemmensen then went home to sleep, where he was later arrested by police and placed in custody.
Aftermath
The man in custody was identified as an 18-year-old student who confessed to the killings, said police inspector Lars Heilman. The suspect's name was later released as Abel Klemmensen (ca. 1971). The crime scene was described as "gruesome" by the police. A team of police forensic scientists traveled to Narsaq fromCopenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
to investigate the killings, but were delayed by heavy snowfall. Those killed, all Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
, were identified only as three men, aged 18, 33 and 34, and four women, aged 18, 19, 26 and 29. The wounded man was only identified as a "22-year-old man in stable condition with head wounds".
Klemmensen was later diagnosed as suffering from narcissistic personality disorder and was sentenced to indefinite detention at a psychiatric institution in March 1991. He is imprisoned in Herstedvester.
See also
*List of rampage killers in the Americas
This section of the list of rampage killers contains those cases that occurred in the Americas, with an exclusion of any such crime committed in the United States (see top of the page).
This section does not include school massacres; workplace ...
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References
{{reflist Massacres in Greenland Massacres in 1990 1990 in Greenland Spree shootings in Denmark 1990 in Denmark 1990s murders in Denmark Deaths by firearm in Denmark January 1990 events in North America Attacks during the New Year celebrations