A gunman opened fire in a shopping mall in Copenhagen, one of the largest of its kind in Scandinavia, killing several people and wounding several others on Sunday, police said.
The suspect in custody is a 22-year-old Danish man who was taken into custody near the Fields shopping centre, said police inspector Søren Thomassen, head of police operations in Copenhagen.
“We know there are several dead” and “several injured,” Thomassen told a news conference, adding that terror could not be ruled out. “We have no information that others are involved. This is what we know now.”
Thomassen did not give a specific number of casualties, except to say that several people were killed and several were injured. He said the suspect was “ethnic Dane”, a phrase usually used to mean someone is white.
Earlier on Sunday, Copenhagen Mayor Sophie H. Andersen tweeted: “Horrible reports of shooting in Fields. We still don’t know for sure how many are injured or killed, but it is very serious.”
Pictures from the scene showed people running from the shopping center and Danish broadcaster TV2 published a picture of a man on a stretcher. Witnesses said people were crying and hiding in the shops.
People leave a shopping mall after Danish police said they received reports of gunfire in Copenhagen July 3, 2022. Ritzau Scanpix/Olafur Steinar Gestsson via REUTERS
Laurits Hermansen told Danish broadcaster DR that he was in a clothes shop in the shopping center with his family when he heard “three or four bangs. Really loud bangs. It sounded like the shots were right next to the shop.”
There was a heavy presence of heavily armed police, with several fire engines also parked outside the mall.
“One person has been arrested in connection with the Fields shooting. At the moment we cannot say more about the affected person,” Copenhagen police wrote on Twitter. “We have a huge presence in Fields and we’re working on getting an overview.”
The shopping center is on the outskirts of Copenhagen directly opposite a metro line that connects the city center with the international airport. A major highway also runs adjacent to the Fields, which opened in 2004.
A concert by former One Direction band member Harry Styles was due to take place at 20:00 (18:00 GMT; 14:00 EDT) at the nearby Royal Arena. Danish media reported that the concert had been cancelled.
On Snapchat, Styles wrote: “My team and I are praying for everyone involved in the Copenhagen mall shooting. I am shocked. I love H.”
Shortly after the shooting, the royal palace announced that a reception with Crown Prince Frederik associated with the Tour de France cycling race had been cancelled. The first three stages of the race took place in Denmark this year, the palace said in a statement. The reception was to be held on the royal yacht, which was docked in Sonderborg, the town where the third leg finished.
Add Comment