COPENHAGEN — The chief suspect in a
Copenhagen mall shooting
was Monday remanded into a psychiatric care facility, one day after three
people, including two teenagers, were shot dead.
اضافة اعلان
“The court
remands the 22-year-old in a closed psychiatric ward,” Copenhagen police said
in a statement, following a two-hour hearing involving the suspect.
The suspected
perpetrator of the attack, which took place late on Sunday afternoon, would be
kept in custody for at least 24 days, which can then be extended, according to
police.
The young man
was brought before a judge at midday at the Copenhagen district court on
Monday.
Wearing a blue
T-shirt, he listened as the indictment for murder was read out, before the
hearing continued behind closed doors.
According to
public broadcaster DR, citing several unnamed sources, the suspected gunman had
tried to reach a psychological help line shortly before the attack, but
authorities would not confirm this.
Copenhagen
police chief Soren Thomassen had already told a morning press conference that
the “suspect is also known among psychiatric services”, but declined to comment
further.
The attack
occurred on the heels of the city playing host to the start of the Tour de
France cycling competition and seeing the return of the Roskilde music festival
after being cancelled due to COVID-19 curbs.
‘Violent contrast’
“I think we have rarely experienced such a violent contrast as
yesterday,”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said as she arrived to pay
tribute to the victims at the scene.
“But today I
think we must pay tribute to the victims, show our sympathy, our help and
support, and support all those who have been affected,” she told reporters.
Copenhagen’s
mayor Sophie H. Andersen announced Monday a memorial service was being
prepared.
The three killed
have been identified as two Danish teens, a girl and boy both aged 17, and a
47-year-old
Russian living in Denmark.
Speaking at an afternoon press conference,
Copenhagen police inspector Dannie Rise said that in total 10 people had been
injured by gunfire, including the three dead, with another four being seriously
injured.
Rise also said
police had received a large amount of witness accounts and videos from the
public, and were in the process of “putting the puzzle together” to establish a
motive.
Given the
victims’ varied ages and genders, Thomassen said they appeared to have been
randomly targeted and there was nothing to indicate it was an act of terror.
The police chief
said there seemed to have been preparation ahead of the attack and that he was
not aided by anyone else.
The shooting
came just over a week after a gunman opened fire near a gay bar in
Oslo in
neighboring Norway, killing two people and wounding 21 others, though on Monday
Norwegian police said they saw no link between the events.
In February
2015, two people were killed and five injured in Copenhagen in a series of
Islamist-motivated shootings.
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