COPENHAGEN – A 23-year-old man has been charged with murder and attempted murder for the shooting last year at a Copenhagen shopping mall in which three people were killed and several others injured, Danish police said Wednesday.
Danish authorities have ruled out terrorism. The suspect, who was known in the mental health services, apparently acted on his own, choosing his victims to the czar.
According to police, the suspect, who has not been identified, opened fire on July 3 in one of Scandinavia’s largest shopping malls on the outskirts of the Danish capital. The individual, with rifle and knife in hand, was quickly arrested. Police say the firearm was illegally obtained.
On Wednesday, he was charged with three counts of murder, 11 counts of attempted murder and one count of attempted murder for shooting at a group of about 21 people, prosecutor Søren Harbo said in a statement.
It is “an extremely serious case” and the charges were brought after investigating the matter “very carefully,” the prosecutor said.
The trial will take place between June 12 and July 5, at a district court in Copenhagen, authorities said.
More than a score of people were slightly injured, most in the wake of the stampede triggered by the shooting at Field’s shopping mall on the outskirts of the Danish capital. A Harry Styles concert due to take place hours later nearby was canceled.
Gun violence is relatively unusual in Denmark.