Three people were killed when a gunman opened fire on crowded shopping centers. The attacker was acting alone, according to Danish police.
Prosecutor Soren Harbo stated that authorities have filed preliminary charges for murder and attempted murder against a Danish man aged 22 years. He will be held in secure mental health facilities for 24 days while authorities investigate the crime.
Luise Hoj, defense lawyer, said that she had agreed to let her client have a mental exam after the custody hearing. She declined to comment on the charges. The police stated that the man was known to the mental health service, but did not elaborate.
Police are still trying to identify the motive behind Sunday's attack at one of Scandinavia's largest shopping malls. The suspect was carrying a knife and a rifle. Soren Thomassen, chief of police inspection in Copenhagen, said that the suspect also had access to a second gun. The suspect claimed that the firearms had been illegally obtained, but he did not provide any further details.
Mette Frederiksen, Danish Prime Minister, said Monday that it was "the worst nightmare" and called the attack "unusually cruel."
According to Thomassen, the three victims were a Russian man aged 47 and a Russian boy 17 years old. Four other people sustained gunshot wounds, and were admitted to hospital in critical but stable condition. Around two dozen people were injured in total, the majority of them in panicked stampedes at Field's shopping centre, just outside the Danish capital.
Gun violence in Denmark is rare. In Denmark, gun violence is rare. The 22-year old man who was shot to death in a shootout with police following an attack on the capital left five officers and two victims.
The suspect, who could not be identified by court order, was brought in front of a judge Monday to face four preliminary murder charges and three attempted murder charges. Although this is a minor step, it allows authorities to hold the suspect in custody while they investigate.
The media were released after the court ordered that the hearing be held behind closed doors. The suspect's plea was not immediately known. Police said that he will remain in custody through July 28.
Authorities have denied that the man was helped by anyone, but Dannie Rise, a Copenhagen police inspector, said that the investigation would be difficult.
Rise stated, "We must put this puzzle together." It is massive."
Thomassen stated earlier that police have not found any evidence "that could substantiate this is terrorism." Thomassen has described the man as an ethnic Dane, a term that is commonly used to describe someone who is white.
Danish broadcaster TV2 published a grainy photograph of the alleged gunman. It showed a man in knee-length shorts and a vest or sleevesless shirt with what appears to be a rifle in one hand.
Eyewitness Mahdi al-Wazni said that he seemed violent and angry. "He spoke to my camera and said that the rifle wasn't real, as he was filming me. He seemed proud of his work."
The scene was captured in images.
Chassandra Stoltz was an 18-year old student. She was heading to a Harry Styles concert nearby and described a stampede when the shots started. She thought Styles had been spotted at first. But her father and sister soon saw the panic and grabbed their child from the stroller.
Stoltz stated that people pointed us to the exit sign and we ran up it. After a while, panicked people started crying and running around the area.
The shooting resulted in the cancellation of Styles' concert.
Sunday's attack occurred a week after an attack in Norway. Police said that a Norwegian man of Iranian descent opened fire at a LGBTQ festival. Two people were killed and more than 20 others were injured.
