32-year-old has lived in Norway for the last few years and was holidaying on the mainland Friday, directly opposite the island of Utoeya when he heard shots.
“We thought that there was a fireworks display,” he recounted to news agency, DPA. But as he heard volley after volley of automatic gunfire, Gleffe became convinced he was hearing shooting instead.
He found a spot to look at the water and saw desperate people trying to swim to safety. That’s when Gleffe took action, jumping into a boat and racing to help people.
Despite the danger, Gleffe quickly pulled person after persons into his small boat.
“It all worked without speaking very much,” he said.
Managing to rescue around six people at a time, Gleffe made multiple trips – officials say he likely rescued around 30 survivors in all. He kept doing it until police showed up at the island, roughly an hour after the shooting started.
Mr Gleffe and his family were drinking coffee outside their caravan and discussing the Oslo bombing when they began to hear shots from Utoeya between 5pm and 6pm on Friday.
"I recognised the sound of the automatic weapon straight away," he said.
"Then I saw two youths who swam away from the island. Then smoke grenades came and several bursts from the automatic weapon. I saw through the binoculars that there were more people in the water."
Mr Gleffe, who lives in Ski, south of Oslo, took the keys to his boat and raced down to the water.
He threw life jackets out to the young people as they shouted: "Are you police, are you police?". Some told him that the gunman was a police officer as others yelled "terrorist, terrorist, terrorist!".
He plucked as many as he could from the water, steering the boat close to the shore of the island and using his binoculars to search for the gunman.
"I took between four and five trips. After that the police asked me to stop," he told the local Dagbladet newspaper.
"The youths were good. They supported each other and were organised, and said who needed first aid and who had to be taken into the boat first. 'You must take him, you must take him', they said."
"They were happy to get help, but they were unsure whom they could trust."
Among those who lost their lives during Breivik's rampage was Tore Eikeland, 21, president of the Hordaland branch of the AUF, whom Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg described as "one of our most talented youth politicians".
"Now he is dead. Gone forever. It is incomprehensible," he told mourners at a special memorial service at Oslo's cathedral.
Erik Dale, a friend and colleague in Norwegian youth politics wrote online: "It is much too soon for you to go, Tore. A great friend with a great heart. A heart that beats for everyone.
"And a political talent we all envy you. Norway's next Prime Minister, remember? It is too soon to lose you. We miss you."
Mr Dale also wrote about another friend, Tarald Mjelde, 18, who was missing presumed dead last night.
"We still need you, Tarald.," he said. "The little big boy with an enthusiasm that infects everyone around you. All the people who wish they had your energy. Your eagerness. If you hadn't been such a great little politician, I am sure you could have been an athlete.
"You love your football, even if you support the wrong team. How did you end up with Chelsea anyways? Please come home safe so you can tell me. We need you."
As the death toll from the island climbed to 86, the names of the missing began to filter out. AMong them was Simon Saeboe, 19, who posed with the Prime Minister in 2009.
Hanne Kristine Fridtun, 20, was last heard from at 6pm on Friday as she swam out into the water with several others.
"We are twenty people hiding at the water's edge. We are talking quietly so we are not heard," she told NRK, the state broadcaster on the phone.
Torjus Blattmann, 17, Syvert Knudsen, 17, Marianne Sandvik, 16 and Jamil Rafal Yasin, 20, were also all still missing.
Friends posted heartfelt messages on Facebook and more than one million joined a tribute page illustrated by a single candle.
One wrote on Simon Saeboe's page: "This is so unfair and unreal you will always be remembered and never be forgotten" while another added: "I am so glad I had a chance to know you.
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