- According to the police, three people were killed and several injured in a shopping center in Copenhagen.
- A suspect was arrested. This is a 22-year-old Dane, Chief Inspector Søren Thomassen said at a press conference on Sunday evening.
- The police are feverishly looking for the background to the crime.
“We do not yet know the motive, but I can assure you that the authorities are doing everything they can to clarify this case and those responsible can be prosecuted,” said Denmark’s Minister of Justice Mattias Tesfaye of the Ritzau agency.
Police chief inspector Søren Thomassen said on Monday night, according to local media, that the victims were a man between the ages of 40 and 50 and two young people. Three other people were seriously injured and in critical condition.
The police arrested a 22-year-old Dane in connection with the crime. The suspected shooter was “basically known” to the police, said Thomassen. He did not provide any further information on this. Police believe the perpetrator acted alone.
“Until we are absolutely certain that the hypothesis is correct, we will conduct a wide-ranging investigation and maintain a massive operational presence in Copenhagen until we can say he was alone,” he said. The man had a gun and ammunition with him when he was arrested. Another weapon may have been involved.
Gunshots could be heard on amateur video from inside the building. Others showed a man walking past shops with a long gun in hand.
People ran away in a panic
The police were alerted around 5:30 p.m., writes the DPA news agency. “Several people were hit,” the police previously reported. A large number of police officers were deployed in the vicinity of the mall.
Legend:
Sunday in Copenhagen: The police secure the area at the Field’s shopping center.
Reuters
Pictures and amateur videos showed people fleeing the building in panic. An eyewitness told broadcaster DR that he heard three or four very loud bangs while he was in a store with his family. Then other people ran into the store and reported shots, after which he and his family fled through an emergency exit, the man said.
Legend:
Passers-by fled the mall after the first shots were fired.
Reuters
When the first shots were heard, more than a hundred people stormed out of the shopping arcade, eyewitnesses reported in the Danish media. Police urged those inside the building to wait inside for arrival and everyone else to stay away from the area.
Legend:
Rescue workers bring stretchers for the injured and dead.
key stone
Witnesses told the Jyllands-Posten newspaper that they heard shots. “You didn’t know what happened. Suddenly chaos broke out everywhere, »said 20-year-old Emilie Jeppesen to the newspaper. Her friend Astrid Kofoed Jørgensen said: “Everyone in the restaurant was sent to the kitchen, then we sat there and could hear three or four shots.”
Emergency services cordoned off the entire island of Zealand, on which the Danish capital is located. Several roads and motorway exits were closed. In order to have more forces available to investigate the bloody deed, soldiers took over guard duties from the police. The authorities set up a place where eyewitnesses could give their testimony and receive psychological support.
Population called to unite
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has condemned the deadly shots as a “cruel attack”. She called on the people of the country to stick together and support one another.
A performance by British singer Harry Styles at a nearby concert hall has been cancelled. The concert organizer Live Nation announced that this was done on the orders of the Danish police.
It is assumed that many concertgoers stayed in the shopping center just a few hundred meters away, for example to eat something.
It is the second time in a short period of time that there has been an attack in a Scandinavian capital. Just over a week ago, two people were killed and 21 others injured in a gay bar in Oslo. The Norwegian secret service PST classifies the attack as an Islamist terrorist attack.