Danish police said a shooting at a Copenhagen shopping center on Sunday left three people dead and several others injured. They also said they had detained and charged 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, and more were hurt with 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 panicky 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.
Till we are positive that he was alone, Thomassen said, “We are going to have a big inquiry and a big operational presence in Copenhagen.”
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 another 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, everyone assumed it was 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 was not shooting into the floor or into the ceiling; he was just shooting into the crowd.
The multi-story commercial center is around 5 kilometers (3 miles) south of downtown Copenhagen.
“Suddenly, my companion and I heard gunshots. I heard approximately ten shots, and we quickly entered a bathroom. We crammed into this small bathroom, there were maybe 11 of us “Another witness identified herself as Isabella and spoke to public radio station DR.
The attack came after a horrific shooting in neighboring Norway last week, in which a lone gunman in the city of Oslo killed two people.
The most recent report from the Danish Security and Intelligence Service states that the terrorist threat to Denmark is now considered to be “severe,” with “militant Islamism” being the greatest concern.
Right-wing radicals are seen as being a “general” threat to Denmark, which implies that they have the ability, the desire, and possibly planning.
Denmark last experienced a terrorist assault in 2015, when a lone shooter shot and murdered a man outside a culture center 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 killed.
Harry Styles’ concert that was scheduled to take place in Copenhagen on Sunday night not far from the retail center has been canceled, 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 honoring 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 canceled.
Early on Monday, the suspect will be questioned informally in front of a judge.
