On 3 July 2022, a man opened fire at the

Field's Field's is a shopping centre in Ørestad, Copenhagen, close to the E20 motorway and Ørestad Station on the Copenhagen Metro. At 115,000 m2, it is the second-largest mall in Denmark after Waves, and one of the largest in Scandinavia. It is own ...

shopping mall in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Denmark, killing three people and critically wounding four others. A suspect, a Danish man, was arrested after the shooting; he had a history of contact with the psychiatric healthcare system. According to police, there are no indications that the shooting was

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

. The suspect has been charged with three

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

s and seven

attempted murder Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions. Canada Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seven ye ...

s. The

mass shooting There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four victims of gun violence (not including the shooter or in an inner city) in a short period of time, although an Australian study from 200 ...

is the first in Denmark since the 2015 Copenhagen shootings.

Shooting

Police received the first shooting reports at 17:37 at the Field's shopping mall located in

Ørestad Ørestad () is a developing city area in Copenhagen, Denmark, on the island of Amager. The area was developed using the new town concept, closely linked with the M1 line of the Copenhagen Metro. Economically, income for the plan would be generate ...

, a developing city area on

Amager Amager ( or, especially among older speakers, ) in the Øresund is Denmark's most densely populated island, with more than 212,000 inhabitants (January 2021) a small appendage to Zealand. The protected natural area of ''Naturpark Amager'' (includi ...

in Copenhagen. A man carrying a rifle and a knifewhich was not used in the attackhad entered the mall sometime before 17:30. A witness said the shooter seemed violent and angry, running and shouting. When directly addressed by the witness, the shooter said that "it is not real". The rifle caliber has been speculated as either 6.5×55mm or

.308 Winchester The .308 Winchester is a smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge widely used for hunting, target shooting, police, military, and personal protection applications globally. It is similar but not identical to the 7.62×51mm NATO ...

/ 7.62×51mm. According to police, the victims appear to have been random, with no indication that any particular group was targeted. The suspect was arrested by police eleven minutes after the shooting had been reported.

Victims

Three people were killed, and four more were seriously wounded by gunfire. The dead are a 17-year-old Danish girl, a 17-year-old Danish boy and a 47-year-old Russian man who was living in Denmark. Another 23 people received minor injuries, including three whose injuries were from stray gunfire, with the additional twenty individuals injured in the evacuation. The four seriously wounded victims are two Swedish citizens and two Danes.

Accused

A 22-year-old Danish man was arrested in connection with the shooting. He had a history of contact with the psychiatric healthcare system. Shortly before the shooting he uploaded videos to social media where he simulated suicide with the rifle and a gun and said that a specific type of psychiatric medication did not work. The firearms he used during the shooting and posed with in the videos were not owned by him and he did not have the required firearms licence. They were legally owned by a person who was a member of a sport shooting club and was living in the same home as the shooter. In the videos posted by the shooter before the attack, a

gun safe A gun safe is a safe designed for storing one or more firearms and/or ammunitions. Gun safes are primarily used to prevent access by unauthorized or unqualified persons (such as children), for burglary protection and, in more capable safes, t ...

can be seen. The accused has been charged with three murders and seven attempted murders. At a court hearing on 4 July 2022, he was remanded to a closed psychiatric unit. Prior to starting the hearing, the judge asked the media to leave the court room and held the hearing behind closed doors, with the accused remaining in custody until 28 July. The court has banned the release of both the suspect's and the victims' names.

Aftermath

A temporary crisis center where people could receive psychiatric help was opened after the shooting. Shortly after the shooting, the

Danish royal family The Danish royal family is the dynastic family of the monarch. All members of the Danish royal family except Queen Margrethe II hold the title of ''Prince/Princess of Denmark''. Dynastic children of the monarch and of the heir apparent are accor ...

announced that a reception due to be hosted by

Crown Prince Frederik Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, Count of Monpezat, (Frederik André Henrik Christian; born 26 May 1968) is the heir apparent to the Danish throne. He is the elder son of Queen Margrethe II and Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark, Prince Henri ...

to celebrate Denmark hosting the 2022 Tour de France had been cancelled. British singer

Harry Styles Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. His musical career began in 2010 as a solo contestant on the British music competition series ''The X Factor (UK TV series), The X Factor''. Following hi ...

cancelled a concert at the nearby

Royal Arena The Royal Arena is a multi-use indoor arena in the Ørestad South area of Copenhagen, Denmark. The ground was broken for construction on 26 June 2013 and the arena opened in February 2017. It has a capacity of 13,000 for sporting events and up t ...

scheduled later that evening. A memorial held on 5 July 2022 at the Field's shopping mall was attended by thousands of people, the

Prime Minister of Denmark The prime minister of Denmark ( da, Danmarks statsminister, fo, Forsætisráðharri, kl, Ministeriuneq) is the head of government in the Kingdom of Denmark comprising the three constituent countries: Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islan ...

Mette Frederiksen Mette Frederiksen (; born 19 November 1977) is a Danish politician who has been Prime Minister of Denmark since June 2019, and Leader of the Social Democrats since June 2015. The second woman to hold either office, she is also the youngest prime ...

, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen

Sophie Hæstorp Andersen Sophie Hæstorp Andersen (born 26 September 1974) is a Danish politician. She is the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen Municipality as of 1 January 2022. She was the regional council chairperson of the Capital Region from 1 January 2014 until 31 July 2021. ...

, other senior political figures as well as Crown Prince Frederik and

Prince Christian of Denmark Prince Christian of Denmark, Count of Monpezat (Christian Valdemar Henri John; born 15 October 2005) is a member of the Danish royal family. He is the eldest child of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary. A grandson of Queen Margrethe ...

. An additional tribute to the victims, in the form of a minute's silence, was observed at the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

before the start of the fourth stage of the race on 5 July.

Response

Prime minister Frederiksen described the attack as cruel, said that she had the deepest sympathy with the victims and their families, and thanked the police and first aiders.

Lauren Boebert Lauren Opal Boebert ( ; ; born December 19, 1986) is an American politician, businesswoman, and gun rights activist. A member of the Republican Party, she serves as the U.S. representative for . From 2013 to 2022, she owned Shooters Grill, a ...

, an American congresswoman, was criticized for claiming that "gun laws o not stopmass shootings" while referring to the shooting.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Copenhagen mall shooting, 2022 Mall shooting 2022 crimes in Denmark 2022 mass shootings in Europe July 2022 events in Denmark July 2022 crimes in Europe Attacks on shopping malls Mall shooting Deaths by firearm in Denmark Violence in Denmark Amager