Denmark paid tribute to the victims of the fatal shooting at a Copenhagen shopping center on Tuesday night, two days after the shooting that ruined a festive weekend in the Nordic country.
• Also read: Shooting in Copenhagen: Suspect placed in psychiatric detention
• Also read: Three dead and three injured in gunfire in Copenhagen
At the call of the city’s mayor, a large rally is planned tonight at 8 p.m. in front of Fields, a huge shopping complex between the city center and the capital’s airport.
The attack, which left three dead and 27 injured late Sunday afternoon, stirred great emotion in the country at the end of a summer weekend marked by the unprecedented passage of the Tour de France and the grand return of the massive Roskilde festival.
If Copenhagen hasn’t escaped threats of attacks, especially from Islamists, in recent years, a slaughter in a shopping center comes as a shock to many residents.
“It doesn’t happen in Denmark, it happens in the United States,” Susanne Bulow, a 65-year-old resident, told AFP.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Mayor Sophie Andersen will address “a large number of people” expected by the police in a ceremony accompanied by a choir in which Crown Prince Frederik will also take part.
The Tour de France, back in France, honored the victims with a minute of applause before the start of stage four.
The alleged attacker, a 22-year-old Dane who authorities say has a psychiatric history, was remanded in custody on Monday for murder.
psychiatry
Due to questions about his mental state, the judge ruled that he should be placed in a specialized psychiatric ward.
According to the state radio and television broadcaster DR, citing several anonymous sources, shortly before the events he tried to contact a psychological counseling line, which the authorities did not want to confirm.
Police said Tuesday they had no new information on the investigation.
According to a former neighbor who was interviewed by the Berlingske newspaper on condition of anonymity, the suspect has been a troubled person since childhood.
“He went to a school in the neighborhood but had to drop out because he couldn’t deal with so many people in one place.”
The attacker’s motives remain unclear, but police said they had no evidence of “a terrorist attack” or specific targets. His main assumption is that the victims were chosen “at random”.
The 22-year-old is charged with three murders, of a 46-year-old Russian living in Denmark, a 17-year-old girl and a young man of the same age, both Danish.
One of them worked at the mall’s cinema, his employer said.
The suspect is also charged with seven attempted murders.
Four of those hit by the gunfire are seriously injured but in stable condition. According to the authorities, they are two Danish women aged 19 and 40, a Swede aged 50 and a Swede aged 19.
Three other people were slightly injured: two Danes, aged 15 and 17, and a 45-year-old Afghan man living in the Scandinavian country.
The Fields mall, which has been closed since the attack, is scheduled to reopen on July 11.