Copenhagen shooting: A gunman kills 3 people and injures several more

On Sunday afternoon, a gunman opened fire inside Field's, one of the biggest shopping malls in Scandinavia, located on the outskirts of the Danish capital.

Chief Inspector of Police, Søren Thomassen, said police received the first reports of a shooting at 5.37 p.m., and arrested the suspect 11 minutes later.

The gunman was a 22-year-old, who Thomassen described as an "ethnic Dane," a phrase typically used to mean someone is white, according to NPR.

A witness told Danish broadcaster TV2 that the gunman seemed very violent and angry. "He spoke to me and said his rifle wasn’t real as I was filming him. He seemed very proud of what he was doing", added the witness.

Three people resulted dead, three seriously injured, and dozens wounded in varying degrees, according to Danish authorities.

When the shots rang out, some people hid in shops while others fled in a panicked stampede, that led to injuries, according to witnesses.

Jacob Aaen, press officer at Rigshospitalet Hospital, was the one who informed the Danish channel TV2 of the situation of the most seriously injured, those who were hit by the bullets. Three of them are in critical condition.

Thomassen said today that the suspect is "known to psychiatric services" and that the attack was not a terrorist act. He added that he wouldn’t comment more about the gunman being a psychiatric patient.

The Chief Inspector of Police hasn’t talked about the motivation that led the young man to commit this crime, but he said, via Twitter, that the detainee "acted on his own."

Nevertheless, just for precaution, the Danish police deployed agents throughout Copenhagen, to prevent a new attack, in case the detainee didn’t act alone.

The mayor of Copenhagen, Sophie H. Andersen, informed citizens with a tweet of what was happening in the Field's shopping center.

"We still don't know exactly how many people were injured or killed but it is very serious. The City Council is in close contact with the Police and prepared to help," she said in a tweet, minutes after the attack.

Twitter was also the platform used by the Danish Police to notify citizens of what was happening.

The social media accounts of some of those present in the shopping center have shown the harshness of the situation and the panic that was experienced inside.

Another element of concern was the concert that Harry Styles was going to give at the Royal Arena, a multipurpose room located just 600 meters from the shopping center.

In fact, many of those present at Field's planned to attend the sold-out concert later, according to Danish media.

At first, Danish Police had given green light for the concert, even though it had been delayed an hour. However, Harry Styles and his team, finally decided to cancel it.

The singer used Snapchat to say that he was "shocked" by what had happened and said he was praying for those affected. The decision to cancel the concert was applauded by people on social media.