People leave the Fields shopping mall, where a gunman killed three people and wounded several others in Copenhagen, Denmark on July 3, 2022. Photo: AFP

A gunman killed three people and wounded several others in a shooting at a busy Copenhagen mall on Sunday as panicked shoppers said they ran for their lives.

A 22-year-old Danish man was arrested after the shooting but his motives were unclear, police said. 

The shooter, who was believed to have acted alone, was known to the police "but only peripherally."

"He's not someone we particularly know," Copenhagen police chief Soren Thomassen told a news conference after the rare mass shooting, the first since February 2015.

The young man, who according to witnesses was armed with a large rifle, was arrested peacefully shortly after police arrived at the large Fields shopping mall, located between the city center and Copenhagen airport.

"There are three dead and several injured, three of them in critical condition," Thomassen said.

The three dead were a man in his forties and two young people whose ages were not specified.

On social networks, people had been speculating about a racist motive, or some other motive, head of the investigation said, "but I cannot say that we have anything which supports that at this moment."

Police, however, confirmed they were investigating videos posted online which claimed to show the suspect with weapons and pointing a gun at his head.

Images from the scene showed parents carrying their children as they fled the building and ambulance personnel taking people away on stretchers. The shooting occurred around 5:30 pm, causing panic in the mall. Many visitors were there for a concert with British singer Harry Styles at the nearby Royal Arena, which was canceled.

"My daughters were supposed to go see Harry Styles. They called me to say someone was shooting. They were in a restaurant when it happened," Hans Christian Stolz, a 53-year-old Swede who came to pick up his children, told AFP.

"We thought at first people were running because they had seen Harry Styles, then we understood that it was people in panic ... We ran for our lives," his daughter Cassandra said.
Styles said he was devastated by news of the attack.

"I'm heartbroken along with the people of Copenhagen. I adore this city," the singer posted on Twitter. "I'm devastated for the victims, their families, and everyone hurting. I'm sorry we couldn't be together. Please look after each other."

The attack occurred two days after 2022's Tour de France cycling competition started from Copenhagen, and the Tour organizers released a statement expressing their sympathy.

"The entire caravan of the Tour de France sends its sincerest condolences to the victims and their families," it said.

Witnesses quoted by the Danish media described how the suspect had tried to trick people by saying his weapon was a fake one, to get them to approach.

AFP