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Business News/ News / World/  3 dead, 3 critically wounded in shooting at Denmark mall
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3 dead, 3 critically wounded in shooting at Denmark mall

A 22-year-old Danish man was arrested

People embrace outside Fields shopping center, after Danish police said they received reports of a shooting at the site, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Ritzau Scanpix/Olafur Steinar Gestsson via REUTERS (via REUTERS)Premium
People embrace outside Fields shopping center, after Danish police said they received reports of a shooting at the site, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Ritzau Scanpix/Olafur Steinar Gestsson via REUTERS (via REUTERS)

Danish police say three people were killed and three others are in critical condition after a shooting rampage Sunday at a shopping mall in Copenhagen.

Copenhagen police inspector Søren Thomassen said the three victims were a man in his 40s and "two young people."

A gunman opened fire inside a busy shopping mall in the Danish capital Sunday, killing several people and wounding several others, police said.

A 22-year-old Danish man was arrested, Copenhagen police inspector Søren Thomassen told reporters, adding there was no indication that anyone else was involved in the attack, though police were still investigating.

Gun violence is relatively rare in Denmark.

Thomassen said it was too early to speculate on the motive for the shooting, which happened in the late afternoon at Field's, one of the biggest shopping malls in Scandinavia and located on the outskirts of the Danish capital. When the shots rang out, some people hid in shops while others fled in a panicked stampede, witnesses said.

“It is pure terror. This is awful," said Hans Christian Stoltz, a 53-year-old IT consultant, who was bringing his daughters to see Harry Styles perform at a concert scheduled for Sunday night near the mall. "You might wonder how a person can do this to another human being, but it's beyond … beyond anything that's possible."

Earlier, Thomassen had given no specific casualty count beyond saying several people were dead and several wounded. He said the suspect was an “ethnic Dane," a phrase typically used to mean someone is white.

Danish broadcaster TV2 published a grainy photo of the alleged gunman, a man wearing knee-length shorts and a tank top and holding what appeared to be a rifle in his right hand.

“He seemed very violent and angry," eyewitness Mahdi Al-Wazni told TV2. “He spoke to me and said it (the rifle) isn't real as I was filming him. He seemed very proud of what he was doing."

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the Scandinavian country had been hit by a “cruel attack."

"It is incomprehensible. Heartbreaking. Pointless," she said. “Our beautiful and usually so safe capital was changed in a split second."

Images from the scene showed people running out of the mall, and TV2 posted a photo of a man being put on a stretcher. After the shooting, an enormous contingent of heavily armed police officers patrolled the area, with several fire department vehicles also parked outside the mall.

Laurits Hermansen told Danish broadcaster DR that he was in a clothing store at the shopping centre with his family when he heard “three, four bangs. Really loud bangs. It sounded like the shots were being fired just next to the store."

The shopping centre is on the outskirts of Copenhagen just across from a subway station for a line that connects the city centre with the international airport. A major highway also runs adjacent to the mall.

Organisers called off the Harry Styles concert, which had been scheduled at the nearby Royal Arena, by order of police.

On Snapchat, Styles wrote: "My team and I pray for everyone involved in the Copenhagen shopping mall shooting. I am shocked. Love H."

The royal palace said a reception with Crown Prince Frederik connected to the Tour de France cycling race had been cancelled. The first three stages of the race were held in Denmark this year. The reception was due to be held on the royal yacht that is moored in Soenderborg, the town where the third stage ended.

In a joint statement, Queen Margrethe, her son Crown Prince Frederik and his wife, Crown Princess Mary, said: “We do not yet know the full extent of the tragedy, but it is already clear that more people have lost their lives and that even more have been injured."

“The situation calls for unity and care," they said in a statement.

The attack rocked Denmark at the end of an otherwise joyful week, just after it hosted the first three stages of the Tour de France cycle race. The event had sent hundreds of thousands of cheering Danes into the streets across the country.

"Denmark was hit by a cruel attack on Sunday night. Several were killed. Even more wounded. Innocent families shopping or eating out. Children, adolescents and adults," Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement late on Sunday.

"Our beautiful and usually so safe capital was changed in a split second," she said. "I want to encourage the Danes to stand together and support each other in this difficult time."

Copenhagen police said armed officers were sent to Field's mall in the capital late on Sunday afternoon after reports of a shooting, and had told people inside to stay put and await assistance. Local media footage showed groups of terrified shoppers running from the mall.

The suspect was apprehended at 5:48 p.m. local time (1548 GMT), carrying a rifle and ammunition. Police launched a massive search operation throughout the local Zealand region early Sunday evening in search of any accomplices.

The suspect arrested after the shooting was known to the police "but only peripherally," Copenhagen police chief Soren Thomassen told a press conference.

He said police received the first reports of a shooting at 5.37 p.m., and arrested the suspect 11 minutes later. Thomassen described the suspect as an “ethnic Dane," a phrase typically used to mean someone is white.

"We are going to have a large investigation and a massive operational presence in Copenhagen until we can say with certainty: He was alone," Thomassen said.

The shooter had killed a man in his forties and two "young people", a man and a woman, Thomassen said. Several more were wounded, and among those were three in critical condition.

The investigation so far did not point towards a racist motive or otherwise, but this could change, he said.

Copenhagen police will hold a press briefing Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. local time.

Organizers called off the Harry Styles concert, which had been scheduled at the nearby Royal Arena, by order of police.

On Snapchat, Styles wrote: “My team and I pray for everyone involved in the Copenhagen shopping mall shooting. I am shocked. Love H."

The royal palace said a reception with Crown Prince Frederik connected to the Tour de France cycling race had been canceled. The first three stages of the race were held in Denmark this year. The reception was due to be held on the royal yacht that is moored in Soenderborg, the town where the third stage ended.

The shooting came a week after a mass shooting in neighbouring Norway, where police said a Norwegian man of Iranian origin opened fire during a LGBTQ festival, killing two and wounding more than 20.

It's the worst gun attack in Denmark since February 2015, when a 22-year-old man was killed in a shootout with police after going on a shooting spree in the capital that left two people dead and five police officers wounded. 

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This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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Published: 04 Jul 2022, 06:15 AM IST
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