COPENHAGEN, Denmark – A gunman opened fire inside a busy shopping center in the Danish capital on Sunday, killing several people and wounding several others, police said.
Copenhagen police inspector Søren Thomassen told reporters there was no indication that anyone else was involved in the attack, although police were still investigating.
Gun violence is relatively rare in Denmark.
Thomassen said it was too early to speculate on a motive for the shooting, which happened late afternoon at Field’s, one of the largest shopping malls in Scandinavia and located on the outskirts of the Danish capital. As gunshots rang out, some people hid in shops while others fled in a panic stampede, witnesses said.
“It is pure terrorism. This is horrible,” said Hans Christian Stoltz, a 53-year-old IT consultant, who brought his daughters to see Harry Styles perform at a concert scheduled for Sunday night near Midwest. commercial center.” You may wonder how one person can do this for another human being, but it is beyond… beyond anything possible. “
Thomassen did not give a specific number of casualties other than to say that several people were dead and several were injured. He said the suspect was an “ethnic Dane,” a phrase commonly used to refer to someone who is white.
Danish broadcaster TV2 released a grainy photo of the alleged gunman, a man in knee-length shorts, a tank top and holding what appears to be a rifle in his right hand. .
Witness Mahdi Al-Wazni told TV2: “He seemed very violent and angry. “He talked to me and said it (the rifle) was not real while I was filming him. He seems very proud of what he is doing. “
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the Scandinavian country had suffered a “devastating attack”.
“It’s incomprehensible. It’s heartbreaking. It’s pointless,” she said. “Our beautiful and often very safe capital was changed in an instant.”
Pictures from the scene showed people running out of the mall, and TV2 posted a photo of a man being carried on a stretcher. After the shooting, a huge contingent of heavily armed police patrolled the area, with several fire brigade vehicles also parked outside the mall.
Laurits Hermansen told Danish broadcaster DR that he was in a shopping center clothing store with his family when he heard “three, four bangs. The explosion was really loud. Looks like the shots were fired right next to the store. “
The shopping center is located on the outskirts of Copenhagen, directly across from the metro station, which connects the city center to the international airport. A major highway also runs adjacent to the mall.
Organizers canceled a Harry Styles concert, which had been scheduled at the nearby Royal Arena, on police orders.
On Snapchat, Styles wrote: “Me and my team pray for everyone involved in the Copenhagen shopping mall shooting. I’m in shock. Love H.”
The royal palace said a reception with Crown Prince Frederik in connection with the Tour de France cycling race has been cancelled. The first three stages of the race are held in Denmark this year. The reception is scheduled to be held on board the royal yacht docked in Soenderborg, the town where the third leg ends.
In a joint statement, Queen Margrethe, son of Crown Prince Frederik and his wife, Princess Mary, said: “We do not yet know the full extent of the tragedy, but it is clear that many more have been added. die. even more were injured. “
“The situation calls for solidarity and concern,” they said in a statement.
The shooting comes a week after a mass shooting in neighboring Norway, where police say a Norwegian man of Iranian descent opened fire during an LGBTQ festival, leaving two people dead and more than 20 injured person.
Although the number of victims in Copenhagen on Sunday is unclear, it appears to be the worst gun attack in Denmark since February 2015, when a 22-year-old man was killed in a duel. gun with the police after participating in a shooting in the capital. 2 people died and 5 policemen were injured.
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Ritter reports from Unterseen, Switzerland.
