Three people were killed and three were critically injured in a mass shooting at a shopping mall in Denmark Sunday – causing panic among shoppers and the cancellation of a nearby concert featuring Harry Styles.
A gunman opened fire inside the country’s largest shopping center, Field’s, in Copenhagen at around 6 p.m. local time and shot several people — including three who died, Danish police said.
Chief Police Inspector Soren Thomassen told reporters that the deceased include “two young people” and a man in his 40s. He said “several” people were injured and three were in critical condition.
A suspect, a 22-year-old “ethnically Danish” man, was arrested and charged with manslaughter. Police believe he acted alone.
“We are convinced that the man we arrested is the perpetrator,” Thomassen said. “He had in his possession a rifle, and he had in his possession ammunition for that rifle.”
People embrace as police evacuate of the Fields shopping center in Copenhagen, Denmark, on July 3, 2022 after Danish media reported a shooting.Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images
People leave Fields shopping center, after Danish police said they received reports of a shooting at the site, in Copenhagen, Denmark, July 3, 2022.via REUTERS
Thomassen declined to provide information on a possible motive, but said police have not ruled out the possibility that the shooting was an “act of terrorism.”
Less than a mile from the shopping mall, British singer-songwriter Harry Styles was set to perform a concert — which was subsequently canceled.
“I’m heartbroken along with the people of Copenhagen. I adore this city. The people are so warm and full of love,” Styles wrote on Twitter. “I’m devastated for the victims, their families, and everyone hurting.”
A 22-year-old Dane is in custody after the mall shooting.
A woman and her children flee the Field’s shopping center after the shooting.
People react in fear after the mall shooting.
An ambulance and armed police outside of Field’s shopping center
Police work at the scene of the Fields shopping center in Copenhagen, Denmark, on July 3, 2022 following a shooting.Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images
The former One Direction star apologized to his fans for having to cancel the show.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t be together,” Styles said. “Please look after each other.”
Video and photos posted by local media during the aftermath of the shooting depicted an urgent scene with people running for their lives out of the mall as well as the heavily armed police response.
An eyewitness who was inside the mall at the time of the shooting said fellow shoppers initially thought the commotion was caused by someone stealing from one of the mall’s 140 shops and restaurants.
“People first thought it was a thief … Then I suddenly hear shots and threw myself behind the counter inside the store,” Rikke Levandovski told broadcaster TV2.
She said the gunman shot directly at people.
“He is just shooting into the crowd, not up in ceiling or into the floor,” Levandovski said.
Another eyewitness described the shooter as “violent and angry” in an interview with TV2.
“He seemed violent and angry, and he was shouting as he ran and took the gun and smashed the windows,” Mahdi Al-Wazni said, according to the New York Times. “You’d think it was an action movie as he walked. He seemed very proud of what he did, I could tell.”
Officers at the scene advised survivors to stay put inside the shopping center and await assistance, police officials said.
The capital city’s main hospital had called in extra surgeons and nurses to aid a “small group” of victims injured in the shooting, a Rigshospitalet hospital spokesperson said.
“Denmark was hit by a cruel attack on Sunday night. Several were killed,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement late Sunday. “Even more were injured. Innocent families out shopping or eating. Children, young people and adults.”
The country’s last major attack was in 2015, when a gunman shot two people dead and injured six police officers during an attack on a cultural center and synagogue in Copenhagen. The suspect in that attack was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police.
“We have all been brutally torn out of the bright summer we had just begun,” Frederiksen said. “It is incomprehensible. Heartbreaking. Meaningless. Our beautiful and usually so safe capital was changed in a split second.”
With Post wires.
