Danish police say they do not believe the shooting at a mall in Copenhagen on Sunday was an act of terror and the supect was "known to psychiatric services".
People hug each other outside Fields shopping mall, where a gunman killed three people and wounded several others in Copenhagen. Photo: AFP / Olafur Steinar Gestsson
The three people killed in Sunday's shooting have been identified as a Danish woman and man, both aged 17, and a 47-year-old Russian citizen residing in Denmark, Danish police say.
Another four were injured in the shooting: Two Danish women, aged 19 and 40, and two Swedish citizens, a 50-year-old man and a 16-year-old woman, Copenhagen police chief Soeren Thomassen said.
He told reporters that police did not believe the attack was terror-related.
A 22-year-old man has been arrested and charged with the attack.
He was in possession of a rifle and ammunition when he was arrested, Danish police have said.
Thomassen added that the man will face questioning by a judge on Monday.
Denmark has restrictive gun laws that are regulated by the Ministry of Justice and the European Commission.
Civilians are banned from owning full automatic firearms, while semi-automatic weapons and handguns are only allowed with special authorisation, according to Gun Policy, a group focused on gun control.
Applicants for a gun owner's licence are required to establish a genuine reason to possess a firearm, for example hunting or target shooting.
An applicant for a licence must pass a background check which considers criminal and mental health records.
Photo: AFP / Olafur Steinar Gestsson
In videos ciculating on social media, which police believe are authentic, a man can be seen posing with weapons, mimicking suicide gestures and talking about psychiatric medication "that does not work".
Thomassen said the suspect was known to mental health services.
"Our suspect is also known among psychiatric services, beyond that I do not wish to comment."
Sunday's attack took place at one of Denmark's biggest shopping centres.
The Field's multi-storey shopping mall in the south of Copenhagen has more than 140 shops and restaurants and is located on the outskirts of the capital, near a subway line that connects it to the city centre.
Less than a mile away is the Royal Arena, the 17,000-capacity venue where Harry Styles was due to perform on Sunday before the show was cancelled.
There is a high school in the vicinity of the shopping centre, as well as a large student housing block where hundreds of young people on university exchange programmes live.
Police officers and rescuers are seen in front of the Fields shopping center in Oerested in Copenhagen, on July 3, 2022. Photo: AFP / OLAFUR STEINAR GESTSSON
'Everyone was in shock, no one knew what was happening'
Maximillian von Renteln, who says he was "just outside" the Field's shopping centre yesterday when he heard loud gun shots, has described the attack as terrifying.
"At the time, I didn't think they were gunshots but just a while after I saw people running out - and I instinctively did the same," he told the BBC.
Citing footage he captured on his mobile phone, Maximillian added that a bus he managed to escape to was later boarded by armed police who instructed passengers to put their hands in the air.
A man with a backpack, sitting at the back of the bus, was searched but officers found nothing and soon went on their way. "Everyone was in shock, no one knew what was happening. There were kids on board," he said.
Despite this, he insists that the police did a good - and swift - job. "I'm happy with the police and how quickly they responded… especially when you compare it to a situation like the [shooting] in Texas recently."
- BBC
