Shooting in Copenhagen: several dead, a 22-year-old Dane arrested
Steph Deschamps / July 3, 2022
A shooting killed and injured several people Sunday in a shopping mall in Copenhagen, according to police, who arrested a suspect, a 22-year-old Dane. The young man, armed according to witnesses with a large rifle, was arrested shortly after the arrival of the police on the outskirts of the Fields shopping mall, located between the city center and the airport of the Danish capital.
There are several injured, and we now know that there are several dead, said the chief inspector of the Copenhagen police, Søren Thomassen, at a press conference.
The motives of the suspect, described as an ethnic 22-year-old Dane, remain unclear but we cannot rule out an act of terrorism, he said. According to him, there is no indication at this stage that other people were involved in the killing.
Two days after the passage of the Tour de France in the Danish capital, with great scenes of jubilation, a large police force was deployed at the scene of the shooting and in several places in Copenhagen.
The shooting occurred around 17:30 local, causing a panic. Many visitors were at the venue before a concert by British star Harry Styles at a nearby large venue, which was cancelled in the evening. According to witnesses interviewed by Danish media, the suspect tried to trick victims, saying for example that his gun was fake to entice them to get closer. He was psychopathic enough to go out and stalk people, but he wasn't running, said a witness interviewed by public television DR.
When the first shots were heard, more than 100 people rushed out of the mall, according to images of the incident. Others were forced to hide inside. All of a sudden we heard gunshots, I heard ten shots, and we ran as far as we could to take refuge in the bathroom, Isabella, who hid there for two hours, told DR.
A crisis unit was triggered, according to the mayor of Copenhagen Sophie Haestorp Andersen. The roads around the shopping center were blocked with a vast security perimeter, the traffic of the subway cut and a helicopter flew over the area, according to a journalist of the AFP on the spot. Heavily armed police officers prevented local residents from returning to their homes.
My daughters were supposed to go to Harry Styles. They called me to say someone was shooting. They were in a restaurant when it happened, Hans Christian Stolz, a 53-year-old Swede who came to pick up his children from the scene, told AFP. We thought at first it was people running because they saw Harry Styles, then we realized it was people in panic (...) We ran for our lives, added his daughter, Cassandra. My team and I are praying for everyone affected by the Copenhagen mall shooting. I am shocked, the British star said on Snapchat.
Police have given no indication of the motives for the shooting. The last attack in Copenhagen was on February 14 and 15, 2015, when a series of Islamist-motivated shootings left two people dead and five injured.