Copenhagen shooting: Three dead after mass shooting in shopping centre in Denmark

Police say they have found haunting posts from the 22-year-old lone gunman before today’s horrific mass shooting in Copenhagen.

Three people are confirmed dead and three more are in a critical condition after a gunman with a rifle opened fire on shoppers in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Terrified shoppers ran for safety as a gunman wielding “a hunting rifle” opened fire at Field’s Shopping Mall on Sunday night (Monday morning AEST), close to where Harry Styles was due to perform two hours later.

Danish police said several people had been wounded, adding that they had arrested one person in his twenties.

“We now know that there are several dead,” Copenhagen police chief Soren Thomassen told a Sunday evening press conference.

The 22-year-old gunman — seen in chilling video wearing a vest and backwards cap — is said to have lured victims by claiming his gun was fake.

He was later seen on his knees after surrendering to armed cops outside.

The dead victims were a man in his 40s and two young people, Thomassen said.

“Our suspect is also known among psychiatric services, beyond that I do not wish to comment,” the police chief told a press conference.

Thomassen added that the victims appeared to have been randomly targeted and there was nothing to indicate it was an act of terror.

The three killed have been identified as a Danish woman and man, both aged 17, and a 47-year-old Russian citizen residing in Denmark.

Police have said they believe videos of the suspect circulating since Sunday evening on social media to be authentic.

The young man can be seen posing with weapons, mimicking suicide gestures and talking about psychiatric medication “that does not work”.

YouTube and Instagram accounts believed to belong to the suspect were closed overnight, AFP noted.

Harrowing pictures show the gunman wielding a rifle behind his head. Picture: Twitter, Video: Mahdi Al-Wazni/Byrd

Thomassen described the apprehended suspect as an “ethnic Dane,” but said it was too early to establish a motive.

“We investigate it as an act, where we can’t exclude, that it’s terror,” the police chief said.

They had no indication that the man had acted together with others, and police were maintaining an increased presence both around the shopping centre and across Copenhagen, he added.

The suspect was charged with manslaughter and will be questioned by a judge on Monday.

Armed police arrested a 22-year-old suspect after the horrific attack. Picture: Twitter

The attack occurred two days after this year’s Tour de France cycling competition started took off from Copenhagen, and the Tour organisers released a statement expressing their sympathy.

“The entire caravan of the Tour de France sends its sincerest condolences to the victims and their families,” it said.

Images from the scene showed parents carrying their children as they ran from the building and ambulance personnel carrying people away on stretchers.

Eyewitnesses quoted by Danish media said they had seen more than 100 people rush towards the shopping centre exit as the first shots were fired.

“We could see that many people suddenly ran towards the exit and then we heard a bang,” Thea Schmidt, who was in the shopping centre at time of the attack told broadcaster TV2. “Then we ran out of Field’s too.”

Emilie Jeppesen, 20, told Denmark’s Jyllands Posten: “You didn’t know what was happening. Suddenly there was just chaos everywhere.

“We were sitting and going to eat and suddenly we could see people running.

“Then we first thought ‘why do people run?’ But then we could hear shots.”

Her friend Astrid Kofoed Jørgensen, added: “Everyone in the restaurant was shown out into the kitchen, and then when we sat out there we could hear three or four shots.”

Another witness, Jacob Sahin Ekman, told the publication he thought he heard “about 15 shots”.

The 27-year-old said he was about to eat with a friend when the shooting began.

He added: “He went out to talk on the phone, and suddenly he sprinted into Dalle Valle and said, ‘Lie down, lie down. Someone is shooting.

“Then I went under the bar and lay down.

“It was all very unreal like a movie.”

It has since emerged the gunman last week posted videos of himself with the rifle on YouTube, Jyllands-Posten reports.

One of the four clips, which have since been taken down, was reportedly uploaded under the caption: “I do not care”.

Another made reference to the drug Quetiapine — used to treat psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar depression and mania.

It reportedly said the drug “does not work”.

Police at the scene of mass shooting in Copenhagen, Denmark. Picture: Claus Bech/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP

‘We heard gunshots’

Police had urged people in the building to wait inside for their arrival, calling on others to keep away from the area.

Police also asked witnesses to get in touch with them and called on those who had been visiting the shopping centre to contact loved ones to reassure them.

“All of a sudden we heard gunshots, I heard 10 shots, and we ran as far as we could to take refuge in the toilet,” Isabella told public broadcaster DR. She said she had hidden in the shopping centre for two hours.

Armed police are seen after the evacuation of the Fields shopping centre in Copenhagen, Denmark. Picture: AFP

Other witnesses described the gunman as a man around 1.8 metres tall carrying a hunting rifle.

At around 7.30pm (1730 GMT), roads around the shopping centre were blocked, the subway was stopped and a helicopter was flying above, said an AFP correspondent at the scene.

Heavily armed police officer kept onlookers back prevented locals from returning to their homes.

People are seen running as police evacuate of the Fields shopping centre in Copenhagen, Denmark. Picture: Olafur Steinar Gestsson/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP

At the nearby Royal Arena, a concert with British singer Harry Styles was scheduled in the evening.

Shortly after the shooting the organiser announced it would “proceed as planned,” but later announced its cancellation, following criticism.

“My team and I pray for everyone involved in the Copenhagen shopping mall shooting. I am shocked,” Styles said in a Snapchat post.

Harry Styles performing in Oslo. Picture: Twitter

The shooting comes just over a week after a gunman opened fire near a gay bar in Oslo in neighbouring Norway, killing two people and wounding 21 others.

In February of 2015, two people were killed and five injured in Copenhagen in a series Islamist-motivated shootings.

— with AFP and The Sun

Originally published as Copenhagen shooting: Three dead after mass shooting in shopping centre in Denmark