Suspect in Denmark shooting had mental health issues, police rule out terrorist motive

The investigation into the massacre in a shopping center in the capital of Denmark that left three dead was focused this Monday on the psychiatric history of the suspect, a 22-year-old Dane, who published videos before the attack in which he simulated suicide with weapons.

The suspected perpetrator of Sunday’s shooting “He has a psychiatric history”said the chief inspector of the Copenhagen police, Soren Thomassen.

LOOK: Shooting in Copenhagen: the Danish Prime Minister confirms several dead in the attack on a shopping center

The attack perpetrated with a rifle left three dead and four seriously injured in the large shopping center fieldslocated between the center of Copenhagen and the airport.

The identities of the fatal victims and the wounded, and the fact that they were of heterogeneous ages and of different sexes, makes the investigators think that the attacker chose them at random.

A group of people run during the evacuation of the Fields shopping center in Copenhagen, Denmark, on July 3, 2022, after a shooting. (Olafur Steinar Gestsson / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP)

“Our conclusion is that he chose the victims at random,” the inspector pointed out. “There are no indications that it is a terrorist act”said.

The three dead are a boy and a girl, both 17, and a 47-year-old man, police said.

This Monday the police confirmed as authentic the videos of the suspect that have been circulating since Sunday night on social networks.

In these he is seen posing with weapons, imitating suicide gestures or referring to a treatment with a medication prescribed by a psychiatrist “that does not work”.

The suspect’s YouTube and Instagram accounts were shut down overnight, AFP found.

The identity of the suspect is known, but was not published by the Danish media and the police consider it premature to rule on the motive for the attack, which appears to have been prepared in advance.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Justice Minister Mattias Tesfaye lay flowers at a makeshift memorial at the site of the Fields Shopping Center shooting. (MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN / RITZAU SCANPIX / AFP).

four seriously injured

The four seriously injured are two Danes aged 19 and 40 and two Swedes, a 50-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl.

Also other people suffered minor injuries in the stampede that followed the shooting.

In the attack, the assailant used a rifle, a pistol and a knife, according to the police, who indicated that he did not have a permit to carry weapons.

The suspect was arrested without difficulty around 5:50 p.m. local time (3:50 p.m. GMT) outside the shopping center, about 15 minutes after the first shots were heard.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederik called the attack “cruel.”

“Our beautiful capital, which is usually such a safe place, changed in the space of a second,” the head of government said in a statement.

The Danish royal family also sent a message of encouragement to the victims and their relatives.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store also sent their condolences.

In the area adjacent to the shopping center there were many people, and many people had attended a concert by British singer Harry Styles in a nearby room.

The concert was canceled and the singer said on Twitter that he is “heartbroken for the people of Copenhagen”.

“I feel devastated for the victims, their families and everyone who is suffering,” he added.

Source: Elcomercio