Three dead, one suspect arrested … What we know the day after the shooting in a shopping center in Copenhagen – Nice matin

Smooth arrest of a suspect with “fuzzy” motives The young man, armed according to witnesses with a large rifle, was arrested without violence shortly after the arrival of the police near the large Fields shopping mall, located between the city center and the airport of the Danish capital. “There are three dead and several injured, three of them in critical condition,” Copenhagen Police Chief Inspector Søren Thomassen told a news conference. The motives of the suspect, described by the police as a 22-year-old “ethnic Dane”, remain unclear. He is known to the police “but only peripherally,” Thomassen said. “He’s not someone we particularly know.” The three killed are a man in his forties and two young people whose ages have not been specified. “On social networks, we see flourishing that it would be a racist motive, or another form of motive, but I cannot say that we have anything which supports that at this moment”, specified the head of the investigation. The police, however, confirmed that they are investigating videos published online claiming to show the suspect with weapons, the barrel of which he points to his temple, which also question his psychiatric condition. A little earlier, the investigators had refused to exclude an “act of terrorism”, but explained that their hypothesis was that the alleged shooter acted alone. Rescuers and police at the scene of a shooting that killed several people in Copenhagen, July 3, 2022 Ritzau Scanpix / AFP / Olafur Steinar Gestsson. Two days after the passage of the Tour de France Two days after the passage of the Tour de France in the Danish capital, with great scenes of jubilation, a large police force was deployed at the scene of the shooting and in several places in Copenhagen . The killing occurred around 5:30 p.m., causing a movement of panic. Many visitors were there before a concert by British star Harry Styles in a nearby large hall, which was canceled in the evening. According to witnesses interviewed by Danish media, the suspect tried to entrap victims, saying for example that his weapon was fake to entice them to get closer. “He was psychopathic enough to go stalking people, but he didn’t run,” said a witness interviewed by public television DR. Shooting in a shopping center in Copenhagen AFP / Kenan AUGEARD. ‘We ran for our lives’ When the first shots were heard, more than 100 people rushed outside the mall, according to footage of the incident. Others were forced to hide inside. “All of a sudden we heard gunshots, I heard ten shots, and we ran all we could to take refuge in the toilets”, explained to DR Isabella, who remained hidden there for two hours. “I was scared, a lot of people were crying.” A crisis unit was triggered, according to the mayor of Copenhagen Sophie Haestorp Andersen, as well as a psychological care center. People flee a shopping center in Copenhagen where several victims were hit by gunfire, July 3, 2022 Ritzau Scanpix/AFP / Olafur Steinar Gestsson. “My daughters were supposed to go see Harry Styles. They called me to say someone was shooting. They were in a restaurant when it happened,” Hans Christian Stolz, a 53-year-old Swede, told AFP. came to pick up his children there. “We thought at first that it was people who were running because they had seen Harry Styles, then we understood that it was people in panic (…) We ran for our lives”, adds his daughter , Cassandra. “My team and I are praying for everyone affected by the shooting in the Copenhagen mall. I’m shocked,” the British star said on Snapchat. “Cruel attack” The police gave no indication of the motives for the shooting. Footage of the arrest shows the suspect, dressed in a white jumpsuit to preserve DNA evidence, being picked up by officers. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen blasted a “cruel attack” at a shopping center where “adults, young people and children” were found. Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and several foreign leaders sent their thoughts and condolences, as did the organization of the Tour de France. 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.