Three people have died and several others have been injured after a gunman opened fire at a mall in Copenhagen.
At 5.35pm on Sunday, June 3, Danish police responded to a shooting at the Field’s shopping centre in the capital, situated on the southern outskirts of the city.
Police arrested the suspected gunman, a 22-year-old Dane, at 5.48pm near the highway exit.
Three people were killed, and several others injured in the shooting. Those killed are a man in his forties, a young man and a young woman.
Danish authorities believe that the man was acting on his own, as they continue to investigate the shooting.
Prime Minister Mette Fredickson called the shooting a “cruel attack” and said: “We have all just been brutally torn out of the bright summer that we had just started.
“It is incomprehensible. Heartbreaking. Pointless.
“Our beautiful and usually so safe capital was changed in a split second.”
It has led to the cancellation of many major events in the city, including a Harry Styles concert just a mile away from Field’s shopping centre, as well as a reception with Crown Prince Frederik connected to the Tour de France.
The reception was due to be held on the royal yacht that is moored in Sonderborg, the town where the third stage of the race ended this year.
Styles was due to take his Love On Tour show around the world in 2020 before the pandemic brought the live music industry to a standstill.
The rescheduled tour began in September 2021 in Las Vegas before heading across the US, with the European tour leg kicking off in Glasgow last month.
Denmark last saw a major terror event in 2015, when an attack on a cultural centre and a synagogue in Copenhagen saw two people killed and six police officers injured.
It has some of the strictest gun laws in Europe, with licences to own firearms usually only available for hunting or sport shooting following background checks – and with an almost total ban on automatic weapons. Carrying a firearm in public is strictly prohibited.
Chief police inspector Søren Thomassen said: “Our preliminary investigation continues to indicate that the perpetrator acted on his own. We are in the process of a massive and very extensive investigation, which will continue throughout the night and in the coming days.”
Copenhagen Police is continuing its work at the mall, and has asked for any witnesses who saw, heard or filmed the shooting to call them at 144.
Follow STV News on WhatsApp
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
