Danish police said a shooting at a Copenhagen shopping centre on Sunday left three people dead and several others injured. They also said they had detained and accused a 22-year-old Danish man with manslaughter.
Following hosting the first three stages of the Tour de France bike race, the attack shook Denmark at the end of an otherwise happy week. Thousands of thousands of celebrating Danes had flooded the country’s streets as a result of the incident.
“On Sunday evening, a brutal attack was made against Denmark. Many people died. more hurt than before. innocent families dining out or shopping. teenagers, adults, and children, “In a statement late on Sunday, the prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said.
She said, “Our lovely and typically so safe capital was changed in a split second.” “In this trying time, I want to encourage the Danes to come together and support one another.”
Armed cops were dispatched to the capital’s Field’s mall late on Sunday after receiving reports of a shooting, according to Copenhagen police, who advised everyone inside to remain put and wait for help. Groups of panicked shoppers were seen escaping from the mall on local media footage.
At 5:48 p.m. local time (15:48 GMT), the suspect was captured with a rifle and ammunition. Early Sunday evening, police conducted a thorough search of the local Zealand area in an effort to find any collaborators.
“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.
According to Thomassen, the shooter also killed two “young persons,” a guy and a woman, and a man in his forties. There were several additional injuries, three of which were serious.
He noted that while the probe had not yet shown any evidence of a racial or other ulterior purpose, this could change.
A press conference by the Copenhagen police will start at 8:00 a.m. local time on Monday.
A representative for the city’s primary hospital, Rigshospitalet, said early Sunday evening that it had brought in more medical personnel to treat a “small group of patients.”
Unverified video footage, which the Danish tabloid BT claimed was shot by Mahdi Al-wazni, a witness to the attack, was published online and showed a man striding through the mall while carrying a big gun across his shoulders.
Al-wazni told BT that the man “seemed really hostile and said different things.”
Video obtained by tabloid Ekstra Bladet shows a single individual being escorted onto a stretcher by emergency personnel and taken to an ambulance.
“At first, many believed it to be a thief. I quickly threw myself behind the store’s counter after hearing bullets “Rikke Levandovski, an eyewitness, said to TV2 about the incident.
She continued, “He is not shooting into the floor or into the ceiling; he is just shooting into the crowd.
The multi-story shopping centre is situated about 5 kilometres (3 miles) south of Copenhagen’s central business district.
“My friend and I both heard bullets at once. I hear approximately ten shots, and we quickly enter a bathroom. We cram into this small bathroom, there are maybe 11 of us “Another witness identified herself as Isabella and spoke to public radio station DR.
The attack comes after a horrific shooting in neighbouring Norway last week, in which a lone gunman in the city of Oslo killed two people.
Right-wing radicals are seen as posing a “general” threat to Denmark, which denotes the presence of capacity, intent, and possibly preparation.
Denmark last experienced a terrorist assault in 2015, when a lone shooter shot and murdered a man outside a culture centre sponsoring a debate on free speech and then shot and killed a second person outside a Jewish synagogue in central Copenhagen, leaving two people dead and six police officers injured.
In a shootout with police, that shooter was slain.
Harry Styles’ concert that was scheduled to take place in Copenhagen on Sunday night not far from the retail centre has been postponed, according to the police.
Denmark’s Queen Margrethe and the Crown Prince pair released a statement saying, “Our thoughts and heartfelt sympathies are with the victims, their relatives and all those impacted by the tragedy.”
A celebration honouring the conclusion of the Tour de France stages that was to have been held in Southern Denmark and hosted by the Crown Prince with Frederiksen in attendance was also postponed.
Early on Monday, the suspect will be questioned informally in front of a judge.
