Several people have been killed after a gunman opened fire at a shopping centre in Copenhagen, police have confirmed. Police in the Danish capital rushed to the Field's shopping mall after shots were fired a couple of hours before a Harry Styles concert nearby.
Danish police said they had arrested a 22-year-old Danish man and could not rule out it was an "act of terrorism". Copenhagen's mayor has described the incident as "very serious" while detectives warned people to stay away, reports The Mirror.
Police urged: "If you have been to Fields, we encourage you to contact your relatives." There are several injured, and what we also know now is that there are several dead," Chief Police Inspector Soren Thomassen told journalists, adding that police had launched a massive search operation throughout the local Zealand region.
The capital's main hospital, Rigshospitalet, had received a "small group of patients" for treatment from the incident, possibly more than three, a spokesman said.
Local media published images showing heavily armed police officers at the scene, as well as people running out of the mall. Parents could be seen grabbing onto their children and fleeing.
British pop singer Harry Styles was due to perform at 8pm local time at a concert venue less than a mile from the shopping centre. oncert would go ahead as planned. At 8pm local time, fans were told the concert would be postponed for an hour, following discussions between the organisers and police.
But 90 minutes later the crowd of 17,000 were told the gig had been cancelled due to “safety concerns”.
The suspected gunman, who is in custody, is a 22-year-old Danish man who was detained near the Fields shopping centre on the southern outskirts of the capital, said police inspector Soren Thomassen, head of the Copenhagen police operations unit.
"We know that there are several dead" and "several injured," Mr Thomassen told a news conference, adding that terror cannot be ruled out.
"We do not have information that others are involved. This is what we know now."
He did not provide any further details on the victims or suspect, or say how many people were killed or wounded. The shopping centre is on the outskirts of Copenhagen just across from a subway line that connects the city with the international airport.
A major highway also runs adjacent to Fields, which opened in 2004.
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