Several dead in Copenhagen mall shooting

A gunman killed several people and injured others during a shooting at a Copenhagen shopping mall on Sunday.

The gun attack coincided with the end of three days marking the start of the Tour de France cycle race across Denmark, the biggest sporting event held in the country in recent times.

Søren Thomassen, a chief inspector with the the Copenhagen police, said a 22-year-old man, described as an “ethnic Dane”, had been arrested in connection with the shooting at the Field’s shopping centre on the outskirts of the capital.

Thomassen said “several” people had died in the attack and several more were injured but it was too early to give more precise numbers. The police could not rule out a terrorist motive, he said, adding that it was too soon to determine a possible motive.

Police launched a manhunt across Copenhagen and the surrounding Zealand region although there was no evidence that the assailant had acted with accomplices, Thomassen said.

“It is a massive operation that is going on,” he told a press conference.

Eyewitnesses told local media a man armed with a shotgun began firing inside the shopping mall around 17.30 local time, hitting several people. The mall is located on Amager island, south-east of the city centre. The attack took place close to an arena where pop singer Harry Styles had been scheduled to hold a concert on Sunday night. The concert was later cancelled.

On Friday, the opening stage of the 2022 Tour de France drew tens of thousands of people to line the route in central Copenhagen for a time-trial event. Two more days of racing across the Danish countryside attracted huge crowds.