Danish police said a 22-year-old suspect was detained but it was too early to speculate on the motive for Sunday afternoon's shooting at Field’s, one of Scandinavia's biggest shopping centres.
ADVERTISEMENTThree people were killed and three critically injured in a shooting at a Copenhagen shopping centre on Sunday afternoon, say Danish police.
It happened late on Sunday afternoon at the Field’s mall, which is close to the city's airport.
A 22-year-old suspect was later detained by police.
Click here for Monday's updated report on the shooting and the aftermath.
Copenhagen police inspector Søren Thomassen said it was too early to speculate on the motive for the shooting, which happened in the late afternoon at Field’s, one of the biggest shopping centres in Scandinavia and located on the outskirts of the Danish capital.
Thomassen said the victims included a man in his 40s and two “young people,” without giving details. Several others were injured, three of them critically, he said.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the Scandinavian country had been hit by a “cruel attack.”
“It is incomprehensible. Heartbreaking. Pointless,” she said. “Our beautiful and usually so safe capital was changed in a split second.”
Images from the scene showed people running out of the mall, and Denmark’s TV2 broadcaster posted a photo of a man being put on a stretcher. Witnesses said people were crying and hid in shops.
Laurits Hermansen told Danish broadcaster DR that he was in a clothing store at the shopping centre with his family when he heard “three-four bangs. Really loud bangs. It sounded like the shots were being fired just next to the store.”
A huge presence of heavily-armed police officers was on hand, with several fire department vehicles also parked outside the mall.
Danish broadcaster TV2 published a grainy photo of the alleged gunman, a man wearing knee-length shorts, a vest or sleeveless shirt, and holding what appeared to be a rifle in his right hand.
“One person has been arrested in connection with the shooting at Fields. We currently are not able to say more about the person concerned," Copenhagen police tweeted. “We have a massive presence at Fields and are working on getting an overview.”
Copenhagen Mayor Sophie H. Andersen tweeted earlier: “Terrible reports of shooting in Fields. We do not yet know for sure how many were injured or dead, but it is very serious.”
The shopping centre is just across from a subway line that connects the city centre with the international airport. A major highway also runs adjacent to Field's. The site of the attack is also near a major concert hall, the Royal Arena where a concert by British singer Harry Styles was to start at 8 pm.
The last attack in Copenhagen dates back to February 14 and 15, 2015, when a series of Islamist-motivated shootings left two dead and five injured.