Shooting at Copenhagen Mall Leaves 3 Dead, Suspect In Custody
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Three people are dead and several others are injured, including four in a critical condition, after a shooting Sunday at a mall in Copenhagen, according to police.
A suspect, a 22-year-old Danish man who has not yet been named, was in custody after the shooting at the Fields shopping center, police said. The suspect appeared to act alone and target his victims randomly, officials said on Monday, with no immediate signs of links to organized terror.
The suspect will appear in court later on Monday and be charged with manslaughter, police said — a crime that carries a potential sentence of life in prison.
“My thoughts go to the wounded, relatives and others affected after this completely meaningless and terrible act,” said Justice Minister Mattias Tesfaye in a news conference Monday.
“We do not yet know the motive behind it, but I can assure you that the authorities are making every effort to get to the bottom of this matter so that the person or persons responsible can be prosecuted.”
The identities of those killed have not been released, but authorities said that they are two 17-year-old Danes, one male and one female, and a 47-year-old Russian man living in Denmark, police inspector Søren Thomassen said in a news conference Monday.
The four critically injured are two Danes, a 40-year-old woman and a 19-year-old woman, and two Swedes, a 50-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl, officials said.
Officers conducted overnight raids on multiple addresses to gather evidence on the crime and establish if the suspect was working alone, Thomassen said, adding that nothing so far suggests he was working with others.
The suspect, whose identity was not released, had a rifle and ammunition when he was arrested. He does not have a criminal record, Thomassen said.
“We are convinced the arrested suspect is the shooter in the mall shooting,” he said.
Nothing so far indicates this was a terrorist attack, Thomassen added. The suspect did not have a relationship or links to any of the victims, he said.
The police chief also confirmed the subject has a known mental health condition.
Thomassen added that videos posted to social media, including YouTube, do show the suspect holding a rifle — these will be part of the police investigation, he said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com.
