A terrified mother lived through the Utoya island massacre via text messages from her teenage daughter as the gunman hunted down his victims.
As she fled the assassin, 16-year-old Julie Bremnes sent texts pleading: “Mummy, tell the police that they must hurry. People are dying here!”
Her mother Marianne Bremnes said yesterday: “I didn’t realise how serious it was at first. Then she sent a message saying, ‘I love you even though I’m sometimes angry with you’. I realised then that they were in big danger.”
Mrs Bremnes switched on the television at her home in Harstad, in the far north of Norway, and was able to warn her daughter - one of the youngest on the island - that the gunman was disguised as a policeman.
She said: “Julie called me first at 5.10pm and said, ‘Mum, there is a mad man here shooting’. She told me to call the police and I asked her to send me a message every five minutes so I knew she was alive.”
At times the mother seemed blinded by the fog of panic as she asked questions such as whether the girl would like her grandfather to pick her up, and: “Should we try to get the flight home tomorrow?”
Cowering from bullets, the teenager replied: “I have no time to think about that now.”
Mrs Bremnes, whose son Jorgen also survived, said Julie was with two boys and a girl who ran down to the shore when they heard shots. They waded out to a rock where they could shelter.
She said of Julie: “She saw dead bodies floating in the water and saw dead bodies on the shore, she also saw somebody getting shot. She’s okay now, she’s quite a tough girl.”
Here we print the dramatic SMS exchanges between the two:
From 5.42pm:
Julie: Mummy, tell the police that they must hurry. People are dying here!
Mum: I’m working on it, Julie. The police are coming. Dare you call me?
Julie: No.
Julie: Tell the police that there is a mad man running around and shooting people.
Julie: They must hurry!
Mum: The police know it. This is not good, Julie. Police are calling us now. Give us a sign of life every five minutes, please?
Julie: OK.
Julie: We are surviving!
Mum: I understand, my girl. Stay in cover, do not move anywhere! The police are already on the way, if not already arrived! Do you see anyone injured or killed?
Julie: We are hiding in the rocks along the coast.
Mum: Good! Should I ask your grandfather to come down and pick you up when everything is safe again? When you have the opportunity.
Julie: Yes.
Mum: We will contact grandfather immediately.
Julie: I love you even though I may shout a few times :) [smiley face]
Julie: And I did not panic, even though I’m s*** scared.
Mum: I know, my girl. We are awfully fond of you, too! Can you hear shots?
Julie: No.
From 6.15pm :
Mum: Have you heard anything from the other people from Troms (a town in the north of Norway)? Grandpa is on the way down.
Julie: The police are here.
Mum: The man shooting is wearing a police uniform. Be careful! What is happening now?
From 6.30pm:
Julie: He still shoots!
Mum: Jorgen has swam to shore. Talking with his father now.
Mum: This is everywhere on the national news now, full attention on Utoya now. Be careful!
Julie: I’m still alive.
Mum: And thank God for it.
Julie: We are waiting to be picked up by police.
Julie: We heard shooting just now, so we dared not get up.
Mum: Good! The evacuation is happening now they say on TV.
Julie: We hope we will be picked up by someone soon. Can’t they catch him soon?!
Mum: Terror police are there, and working to take him.
Mum: Should we try to get the flight home tomorrow?
Julie: I have no time to think about that now.
Julie: Do you know whether they have caught him?
Mum: Will keep you posted, my girl. We are watching the TV all the time.
Mum: Hey, are you there?
Julie: Yes the helicopters are hovering above.
Mum: Have you been seen?
Julie: They are looking for people in the water, we are not picked up yet!
From 7.01pm:
Julie: How about news?
Mum: The police in a boat to Utoya, otherwise nothing new. It is not clear to shoot the man, so stay where you are. Wait for someone pick you up.
Mum: Now they have taken him! - Daily Mail