At a press conference early Monday morning, Copenhagen Police Chief Soren Thomassen said the victims included “a man in his 40s and two youngsters”.
According to Thomassen, a young Dane was “undramatically” arrested in connection with the shooting and is currently the only suspect.
“We are satisfied that the arrested 22-year-old suspect was the shooter, he was carrying a rifle and ammunition,” he said, adding that investigators “believe the suspect was not working with others, but that until they are absolutely certain that they will not exclude it.”
Police arrested the suspect thirteen minutes after receiving the first emergency call about the shooting, Thomassen said.
Eyewitness Joachim Olsen, a former Danish politician and athlete, told CNN he was on his way to a gym inside Field’s when he saw large groups of people exiting the mall.
“It looked like something, I’m sorry to say, like something you’d see from a school shooting in the United States, people sticking out with their hands above their heads,” Olsen said.
“You have people running out, looking for friends and calling friends and family who were inside, some talking to friends who were inside,” he said. “Older people with their arms around the necks of the people wearing them, their feet just being dragged on the floor.”
Outside the mall, Olsen spoke to a man who spoke to an off-duty paramedic whose arms “were covered in blood up to the elbows.”
“He wanted to go home but the police wouldn’t let him,” Olsen said.
According to Olsen, security tried to keep the crowds away from the mall.
“At one point we were rushed in. The police came and said, ‘Run, run, run, they’re still shooting in there. “”
A spokesperson for Rigshospitalet, Denmark’s largest hospital, told CNN the hospital had taken in multiple victims and called in additional staff to deal with the emergency.
A victim hotline has been opened and police say they have set up a central location where eyewitnesses can get help and report their experiences to law enforcement officials.
“We were all brutally torn from the bright summer that had just begun. It is incomprehensible. Heartbreaking. Insignificant. Our beautiful and usually so safe capital was changed in a split second,” Frederiksen said.
In a statement, the Royal House of Denmark said: “Our thoughts and deepest sympathy go out to the victims, their loved ones and everyone affected by the tragedy.”
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola also expressed her solidarity with the Danish people.
Journalist Susanne Gargiulo reported from Copenhagen.
