One person has been arrested following the shooting, ITV News correspondent Sejal Karia reported on Sunday’s News At Ten before the exact death was given Three people were killed and three were left in critical condition when a gunman opened fire at a shopping center in the Danish capital, Copenhagen. The suspected gunman, who is in custody, is a 22-year-old Dane who was arrested near the Fields mall, said police inspector Søren Thomassen, head of the Copenhagen police operations unit. Inspector Thomassen said the suspect was a “national Dane”, a phrase commonly used to mean someone is white, and said there was no indication the suspected gunman was working with anyone else. He added that 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. Insp Thomassen said police received the first reports of a shooting at 5.37pm and arrested the suspect 11 minutes later. In a briefing Monday, he said investigators did not believe the attack was terror-related and that the suspect appeared to have chosen his victims at random. Insp Thomassen said three people were killed — two Danes and a Russian national — and two Danes and two Swedes were in hospital with serious injuries. Photos on social media appeared to show a person carrying what appeared to be a rifle at the mall. Credit: Twitter Such shootings are rare in Denmark. Danish broadcaster TV2 released a grainy photo of the alleged gunman, a man wearing knee-length shorts and a tank top and holding a rifle in his right hand. When the shots rang out, some hid in shops while others fled in panic, according to witnesses. Images from the scene showed people running out of the mall and TV2 published a photo of a man being put on a stretcher. Witnesses said people were crying and hiding in shops. “It’s pure terror. This is awful,” said Hans Christian Stolz, a 53-year-old IT consultant who was bringing his daughters to see Harry Styles perform at a concert scheduled for Sunday night near the mall. “You might wonder how a person could do this to another human being, but it’s beyond… beyond anything possible.” “He looked very violent and angry,” eyewitness Mahdi Al-Wazni told TV2. “He spoke to me and said so [the rifle] it’s not real as i was filming him. He seemed very proud of what he was doing.” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the Nordic country had been hit by a “severe attack”. “It is incomprehensible. Heartbreaking. Pointless,” he said. “Our beautiful and usually so safe capital changed in a split second.” After the shooting, a huge contingent of heavily armed police patrolled the area, with several fire engines also parked outside the centre. People run from the Fields shopping center in Copenhagen. Credit: AP Laurich Hermansen, who was in a clothing store with his family when the shooting started, told Danish broadcaster DR that he heard “three or four shots. Really strong bangs. It sounded like the shots were being fired right next to the store.” A Harry Styles concert at the nearby Royal Arena was canceled because of the shooting. The concert was due to start at 8pm local time (7pm UK time) and a large crowd had already gathered inside the arena when the cancellation of the show was announced and they were asked to leave. Styles said in a Snapchat post: “My team and I are praying for everyone involved in the Copenhagen mall shooting. I’m shocked.” In a statement, concert promoter Live Nation said the concert had been canceled “at the direction of the Danish Police”. He continued: “We are all truly devastated by today’s events and our thoughts are with the victims and their families. “We are looking at future possibilities for the show and hope to be able to give ticket buyers direct information as soon as possible.” Want a quick and special update on the biggest news? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out what you need to know Shortly after the shooting, the royal palace said a reception with Crown Prince Frederik linked to the Tour de France cycling race was cancelled. The first three stages of the race were held in Denmark this year, the palace said in a statement. The reception was to be held on the royal yacht moored in Soenderborg, the town where the third stage ended. In a joint statement, Queen Margrethe, her son Crown Prince Frederik and his wife Crown Princess Mary said: “We do not yet know the full extent of the tragedy, but it is already clear that more people have lost their lives and that even more were injured.” “The situation calls for unity and care,” they said in a statement. The shootings came a week after a mass shooting in neighboring Norway, where police said a Norwegian of Iranian descent opened fire during an LGBTQ festival, killing two and injuring more than 20. It was the worst gun attack in Denmark since February 2015, when a 22-year-old man was killed in a shootout with police following a shooting in the capital that left two people dead and five police officers injured.
