- According to the police, several people were killed and injured by gunshots in a shopping center in Copenhagen.
- The police are in action with a large contingent, they announced in the Danish capital.
- A suspect was arrested.
This is a 22-year-old Dane, Chief Inspector Søren Thomassen said at a press conference in the Danish capital on Sunday evening. In view of the circumstances, the arrest was “relatively undramatic”, said Thomassen. It is too early to say anything about the motive. Thomassen could not initially rule out a terrorist act. The previous information is associated with uncertainty, it is a kind of chaos phase.
So far there is no evidence of other perpetrators, according to the chief inspector. Nevertheless, the authority is still investigating in this direction and is working intensively to secure the site. The shooter wore dark clothes and was not masked, eyewitness Rikke Levandovski told TV2. Another eyewitness, Mahdi Al-Wazni, said the man fired a long gun. Shortly after the crime, videos showing the shooter circulated on social media.
People ran away in a panic
The police were alerted at around 5:30 p.m. and are still on the scene with strong forces. “Several people were hit,” the police previously reported. A large number of police officers are deployed in the vicinity of the shopping center.
Legend:
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 are urging those inside the building to wait inside for arrival and everyone else to stay clear of 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.”
Nearby concert cancelled
Field’s is a large shopping center in the relatively new district of Ørestad in the south of Copenhagen. The large multi-purpose hall Royal Arena is also nearby.
A sold-out concert by British singer Harry Styles was planned there on Sunday. On social media, users demanded that the concert should not take place in view of the incident in the shopping center. In fact, according to the media, it was canceled in the evening.
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.