Copenhagen Mall Shootout: At Least 3 Dead, 3 Critically Wounded. Danish PM Calls Incident 'Heartbreaking'

The Police arrested the suspect 11 minutes after receiving the first reports of a shooting, and the suspect has been described as an “ethnic Dane,” a phrase typically used to mean someone is white.

Police officers in Copenhagen, Denmark

Source : AFP/File Photo

New Delhi: Three people were killed and three others remain in critical condition after a gunman opened fire inside a shopping mall in Copenhagen on Sunday. One of the three victims was a man in his 40s including two young people, reported the news agency AP. The shooting incident at Field's, one of the biggest shopping malls located on the outskirts of the Danish capital left several wounded. A 22-year-old Danish man was arrested, according to Copenhagen police inspector Søren Thomassen who added there was no indication of involvement of anyone else in the attack even as the investigation is underway.

Thomassen noted that it was too early to speculate the motive behind the shooting, which took place in the late afternoon. At the time of the firing, some people managed to hide in shops while others fled in a panicked stampede, according to the witnesses.

The police arrested the suspect 11 minutes after receiving the first reports of a shooting at 5.37 pm. Thomassen described the suspect as an “ethnic Dane,” a phrase typically used to mean someone is white.

Meanwhile, a grainy photo published of the alleged shooter shows him wearing knee-length shorts, a vest or sleeveless shirt and holding what appeared to be a rifle in his right hand. “He seemed very violent and angry,” said eyewitness Mahdi Al-Wazni to news agency AP. “He spoke to me and said it (the rifle) isn’t real as I was filming him. He seemed very proud of what he was doing.”

Stating that the Scandinavian country had been hit by a ‘cruel attack’, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said, “It is incomprehensible. Heartbreaking. Pointless”. “Our beautiful and usually so safe capital was changed in a split second,” she added. 

Organisers of the Harry Styles concert cancelled the scheduled event at the nearby Royal Arena on police order. The royal palace said a reception with Crown Prince Frederik connected to the Tour de France cycling race had been canceled.