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Copenhagen: A gunman opened fire inside a busy shopping mall in the Danish capital Sunday, killing three people and critically wounding three others, police said. A 22-year-old Danish man was arrested after the shooting, 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, according to witnesses.
A view of police at Field’s shopping center in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday July 3, 2022. Danish police say several people have been shot at a Copenhagen shopping mall. Copenhagen police said that one person has been arrested in connection with the shooting at the Field’s shopping mall on Sunday. Police tweeted that several people have been hit but gave no other details. (Claus Bech/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
“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 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.”
Thomassen said the victims included a man in his 40s and two “young people,” without giving details. Several others were injured, three of them critically, he said.
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.
Danish broadcaster TV2 published a grainy photo of the alleged gunman, a man wearing knee-length shorts, a vest or sleeveless shirt, 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.”
People evacuated from the Fields shopping center react, in Orestad, Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday, July 3, 2022, after reports of shots fired. Danish police say several people have been shot at a Copenhagen shopping mall. Copenhagen police said that one person has been arrested in connection with the shooting at the Field’s shopping mall on Sunday. Police tweeted that “several people have been hit” but gave no other details. (Olafur Steinar Gestsson /Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
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 center 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.”
Police and emergency services at the Field’s shopping center after a shooting, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday, July 3, 2022. Danish police said Sunday that several people were shot at a Copenhagen shopping mall, one of the largest in Scandinavia. Copenhagen police said that one person has been arrested in connection with the shooting at the Field’s shopping mall, which is close to the city’s airport. Police tweeted that “several people have been hit,” but gave no other details. (Claus Bech/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
The shopping center is on the outskirts of Copenhagen just across from a subway station for a line that connects the city center with the international airport. A major highway also runs adjacent to the mall.
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.
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 shooting came a week after a mass shooting in neighboring Norway, where police said a Norwegian man of Iranian origin opened fire during a LGBTQ festival, killing two and wounding more than 20.
It was 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.
Images from the scene showed people running out of the mall, and Denmark’s TV2 broadcaster posted a photo of a man being put on a stretcher. Witnesses said people were crying and hid in shops.
Emergency services at the Field’s shopping center after a shooting, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday, July 3, 2022. Danish police say several people have been shot at a Copenhagen shopping mall. Copenhagen police said that one person has been arrested in connection with the shooting at the Field’s shopping mall on Sunday. Police tweeted that “several people have been hit” but gave no other details. (Olafur Steinar Gestsson/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Laurits Hermansen told Danish broadcaster DR that he was in a clothing store at the shopping center 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.”
A huge presence of heavily-armed police officers was on hand, with several fire department vehicles also parked outside the mall.
“One person has been arrested in connection with the shooting at Fields. We currently are not able to say more about the person concerned,” Copenhagen police tweeted. “We have a massive presence at Fields and are working on getting an overview.”
Emergency services at the Field’s shopping center after a shooting, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday July 3, 2022. Danish police say several people have been shot at a Copenhagen shopping mall. Copenhagen police said that one person has been arrested in connection with the shooting at the Field’s shopping mall on Sunday. Police tweeted that “several people have been hit” but gave no other details. (Olafur Steinar Gestsson/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
The shopping center is on the outskirts of Copenhagen just across from a subway line that connects the city center with the international airport. A major highway also runs adjacent to Fields, which opened in 2004.
A concert by former One Direction band member Harry Styles was scheduled to be held at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT; 2 p.m. EDT) at the nearby Royal Arena. It was unclear whether the concert would be held.
Shortly after the shooting, 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 palace said in a statement.
The reception was due to be held on the royal yacht that is moored in Soenderborg, the town where the third stage ended.
(With Associated Press Inputs)
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