Copenhagen shopping mall gunman acted alone and shot victims at random, police say

Danish police have said there is no indication a shooting at a Copenhagen shopping mall was terror related.

Three people died following the shooting on Sunday afternoon, with several other people injured – four critically.

At a press conference on Monday morning, Copenhagen chief inspector Soren Thomassen said one of the three killed was a Russian citizen living in Denmark, while two Swedes and two Danes were critically wounded.

He added that the gunman who opened fire most likely acted alone and selected his victims at random.

Police were called at 5.37pm and 11 minutes later they had arrested the suspect, a 22-year-old “ethnic Dane” man.

The incident happened at the Fields shopping centre to the south of Copenhagen.

Footage shows the alleged gunman to be a man wearing knee-length socks, a vest or sleeveless shirt, and holding what appeared to be a rifle.

Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said the 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.”

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It was the worst gun attack in Denmark since February 2015, when a 22-year-old man was killed in a shootout with police after going on a rampage in the capital which left two people dead and five police officers wounded.

Popstar concert cancelled

British singer Harry Styles was expected to perform at a venue close to the mall on Sunday night but his concert was called off by order of police.

In a tweet, the former One Direction star said he was “heartbroken” and “devastated for the victims”.

Images from the scene of Sunday’s shooting showed people running from the shopping centre.

“People first thought it was a thief… Then I suddenly hear shots and threw myself behind the counter inside the store,” eyewitness Rikke Levandovski told broadcaster TV2.

“He is just shooting into the crowd, not up in the ceiling or into the floor,” she added.

Another witness who gave her name as Isabella told public broadcaster DR: “My friend and I… suddenly we hear shots. I hear about 10 shots and then run as fast as we can into a toilet.

“We squeeze into this tiny toilet where we are around 11 people.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the 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.”

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