A gunman who opened fire in a shopping mall in Copenhagen, killing three people, most likely acted alone and selected his victims at random, Danish police said on Monday.
Copenhagen's chief police inspector Soren Thomassen said investigators did not believe Sunday’s attack was terror-related. There had been fears the assault was linked to terrorism as Denmark has in recent years experienced a rise in threats from Islamist and far-right fanatics.
While he could not yet comment on a motive, he said the attack appeared to have been prepared in advance.
“As things stand, it seems he was acting alone,” he said of a Danish man, 22, arrested in connection with the shootings.
“Our suspect is also known among psychiatric services, beyond that I do not wish to comment.”
He said the victims appeared to have been randomly targeted and there was nothing to indicate it was an act of terror.
“There is nothing in our investigation, or the documents we have reviewed, or the things we have found, or the witnesses’ statements we have gotten, that can substantiate that this is an act of terrorism,” Mr Thomassen said.
“Our assessment is that the victims were random, that it isn't motivated by gender or something else,” he added.
The three dead people have been identified as a Danish girl and boy, both aged 17, and a 47-year-old Russian citizen who had been living in Denmark. A further four were admitted to hospital after suffering injuries in the rampage: two Danish women, aged 19 and 40, a Swedish man, 50, and a Swedish girl, 16.
Police confirmed that the man under arrest was present at Field's mall at the time of the shooting and is known to the police “but only peripherally”. Mr Thomassen described the man in custody as an “ethnic Dane".
The suspected attacker arrived for a hearing in a packed courtroom on Monday, where he is expected to be arraigned on three preliminary charges of murder and four of attempted murder, according to Danish media. Preliminary charges are a step short of filing formal charges but allow authorities to keep a suspect in custody during an investigation. He cannot be named under a court order.
The shopping centre located 10 minutes by Metro from the city centre is home to more than 140 shops and restaurants and was crowded with people when the gunman opened fire.
He arrived at the centre armed with a rifle, a pistol and a knife, police said. While the guns were not believed to be illegal, the man did not hold a licence for them.
Police said they believe videos of the man circulating since Sunday evening on social media to be authentic.
He can be seen posing with weapons, mimicking suicide gestures and talking about psychiatric medication “that does not work”.
YouTube and Instagram accounts believed to belong to him were closed overnight.
On Sunday, police said the arrested man had been charged with manslaughter.
Police received the first reports of a shooting at 5.37pm and arrested the man 11 minutes later.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the Scandinavian country had been hit by a “cruel attack”.
“It is incomprehensible. Heartbreaking. Pointless,” Ms Frederiksen said. “Our beautiful and usually so safe capital was changed in a split second.”
She called the assault "unusually brutal, adding: “It was the worst possible nightmare."
Heavily armed police officers attended the scene and throngs of people were seen running out of the mall.
Witness Laurits Hermansen told Danish broadcaster DR that he was with his family when he heard “three, four bangs. Really loud bangs. It sounded like the shots were being fired just next to the store.”
Another person described how the suspect had tried to trick people by saying his weapon was fake to get them to approach. “He was sufficiently psychopathic to go and hunt people, but he wasn't running,” one unnamed witness told DR.
Others described seeing more than 100 people making a dash for the mall's exit as the first shots rang out.
Danish news site BT published unverified video footage it said was shot by a witness to the attack, Mahdi Al Wazni, showing a man with a large rifle walking through the mall and swinging it around his shoulders.
“He seemed very aggressive and shouted different things,” Mr Al Wazni said.
Footage published by media outlet Ekstra Bladet showed a person being carried by rescue workers into an ambulance on a stretcher.
“People first thought it was a thief … then I suddenly heard shots and threw myself behind the counter inside the store,” witness Rikke Levandovski told broadcaster TV2.
“He is just shooting into the crowd, not up in the ceiling or into the floor.”
Another witness, Isabella, told public broadcaster DR: “My friend and I … suddenly we hear shots. I hear about 10 shots and then run as fast as we can into a toilet. We squeeze into this tiny toilet, where we are around 11 people.”
The shopping mall is on the outskirts of Copenhagen, across from a subway station for a line that connects the city centre with the international airport. A major motorway also runs next to the mall.
Organisers called off a Harry Styles concert that had been scheduled at the nearby Royal Arena.
On social media, Styles wrote: “My team and I pray for everyone involved in the Copenhagen shopping mall shooting. I am shocked. Love, H.”
The attack follows a deadly shooting in neighbouring Norway last week, in which two people were killed by a gunman in the capital Oslo.
The terrorist threat against Denmark is assessed to be “serious”, with the biggest risk coming from “militant Islamism”, the latest report from the Danish Security and Intelligence Service says.
The threat to Denmark from right-wing extremists is considered at a “general” level, which means there is capability and/or intent and possibly planning.
Denmark last had a militant attack in 2015, when two people were killed and six police wounded when a gunman shot and killed a man outside a culture centre hosting a debate on freedom of speech, and later killed a person outside a Jewish synagogue in central Copenhagen.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
BMW M8 Competition Coupe
Engine 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8
Power 625hp at 6,000rpm
Torque 750Nm from 1,800-5,800rpm
Gearbox Eight-speed paddleshift auto
Acceleration 0-100kph in 3.2 sec
Top speed 305kph
Fuel economy, combined 10.6L / 100km
Price from Dh700,000 (estimate)
On sale Jan/Feb 2020
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Sanju
Produced: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Manish’s Koirala, Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Boman Irani
Rating: 3.5 stars
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
'Of Love & War'
Lynsey Addario, Penguin Press
Ahmed Raza
UAE cricket captain
Age: 31
Born: Sharjah
Role: Left-arm spinner
One-day internationals: 31 matches, 35 wickets, average 31.4, economy rate 3.95
T20 internationals: 41 matches, 29 wickets, average 30.3, economy rate 6.28
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
Copa del Rey
Semi-final, first leg
Barcelona 1 (Malcom 57')
Real Madrid (Vazquez 6')
Second leg, February 27
The Cairo Statement
1: Commit to countering all types of terrorism and extremism in all their manifestations
2: Denounce violence and the rhetoric of hatred
3: Adhere to the full compliance with the Riyadh accord of 2014 and the subsequent meeting and executive procedures approved in 2014 by the GCC
4: Comply with all recommendations of the Summit between the US and Muslim countries held in May 2017 in Saudi Arabia.
5: Refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of countries and of supporting rogue entities.
6: Carry out the responsibility of all the countries with the international community to counter all manifestations of extremism and terrorism that threaten international peace and security
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Squad: Majed Naser, Abdulaziz Sanqour, Walid Abbas, Khamis Esmail, Habib Fardan, Mohammed Marzouq (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai), Khalid Essa, Muhanad Salem, Mohammed Ahmed, Ismail Ahmed, Ahmed Barman, Amer Abdulrahman, Omar Abdulrahman (Al Ain), Ali Khaseif, Fares Juma, Mohammed Fawzi, Khalfan Mubarak, Mohammed Jamal, Ahmed Al Attas (Al Jazira), Ahmed Rashid, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Wahda), Tariq Ahmed, Mahmoud Khamis, Khalifa Mubarak, Jassim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Yousef Saeed (Sharjah), Suhail Al Nubi (Baniyas)
THE POPE'S ITINERARY
Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial
Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
5pm: arrival at the Rome / Ciampino International Airport
Company Profile
Founders: Tamara Hachem and Yazid Erman
Based: Dubai
Launched: September 2019
Sector: health technology
Stage: seed
Investors: Oman Technology Fund, angel investor and grants from Sharjah's Sheraa and Ma'an Abu Dhabi
The Lost Letters of William Woolf
Helen Cullen, Graydon House
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: nine-speed
Power: 542bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh848,000
On sale: now
PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
Tuesday (UAE kick-off times)
Leicester City v Brighton (9pm)
Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United (11.15pm)
Wednesday
Manchester United v Sheffield United (9pm)
Newcastle United v Aston Villa (9pm)
Norwich City v Everton (9pm)
Wolves v Bournemouth (9pm)
Liverpool v Crystal Palace (11.15pm)
Thursday
Burnley v Watford (9pm)
Southampton v Arsenal (9pm)
Chelsea v Manchester City (11.15pm)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 2.3-litre, turbo four-cylinder
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Power: 300hp
Torque: 420Nm
Price: Dh189,900
On sale: now
Mane points for safe home colouring
- Natural and grey hair takes colour differently than chemically treated hair
- Taking hair from a dark to a light colour should involve a slow transition through warmer stages of colour
- When choosing a colour (especially a lighter tone), allow for a natural lift of warmth
- Most modern hair colours are technique-based, in that they require a confident hand and taught skills
- If you decide to be brave and go for it, seek professional advice and use a semi-permanent colour
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The%20specs
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Hales' batting career
Tests 11; Runs 573; 100s 0; 50s 5; Avg 27.38; Best 94
ODIs 58; Runs 1,957; 100s 5; 50s 11; Avg 36.24; Best 171
T20s 52; Runs 1,456; 100s 1; 50s 7; Avg 31.65; Best 116 not out
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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