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The Tour de France will pay tribute Tuesday to the Copenhagen mall shooting victims, as the suspect, who still has not been publicly identified by authorities, has been remanded to a psychiatric facility for 24 days.
Tour de France organizers said a minute of applause will be held at the start of the fourth stage in Dunkirk on Tuesday, with Danish riders aligned at the front of the peloton on the start line, Reuters reported.
At a press briefing Monday, Copenhagen Police Chief Inspector Soeren Thomassen described the 22-year-old accused gunman as an “ethnic Dane” without elaborating further, adding that the investigation has discovered nothing so far “that can substantiate that this is an act of terrorism.”
The suspect, who cannot be named due to a court order, was brought before a judge Monday in a packed courtroom to face three preliminary charges of murder and four of attempted murder.
When the court ruled that the hearing should be held behind closed doors, the media were sent out. The accused gunman, who police say was known to psychiatric services before the shooting, was remanded to a secure mental facility for 24 days until July 28 as the investigation continues ahead of formal charges.
Copenhagen Police Chief Inspector Soeren Thomassen gives a status on the investigation of Sunday’s shooting in a shopping mall, at the Police Station in Copenhagen, Denmark Monday, July 4, 2022.
((Martin Sylvest/Ritzau Scanpix via AP))
The shooting happened Sunday at Field’s shopping mall on the outskirts of the capital of Denmark flooded with teenagers at the time ahead of a Harry Styles concert that was scheduled nearby. Three people — a 17-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl, both Danes, and a 47-year-old Russian man — were killed, while four others were hospitalized with gunshot wounds and were in critical but stable condition.
In all, about two dozen people were hurt, mostly during the stampede when shots rang out.
Police have not identified a motive for Sunday’s attack inside one of Scandinavia’s biggest shopping centers. Thomassen said the suspect, who was carrying a rifle and knife, was quickly arrested and had access to another gun. He said the firearms were obtained illegally but gave no further details.
People leave the Field’s shopping center in Copenhagen, Denmark Sunday, July 3, 2022. A gunman opened fire inside the busy shopping mall in the Danish capital Sunday, killing a few people and critically wounding a few others, police said.
((Olafur Steinar Rye Gestsson/Ritzau Scanpix via AP))
Denmark has some of the strictest gun laws in Europe.
“It was the worst possible nightmare,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Monday, calling the attack “unusually brutal.”
While authorities have said there is no indication that anyone helped the man, Copenhagen police inspector Dannie Rise said the investigation would be complicated.
“We need to put together this jigsaw puzzle,” Rise said. “And it is huge.”
People help a woman in front of the Fields shopping center in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday, July 3, 2022.
((Olafur Steinar Rye Gestsson/Ritzau Scanpix via AP))
Danish broadcaster TV2 published a grainy photo of the alleged gunman, a man wearing knee-length shorts, a vest or sleeveless shirt, and holding what appeared to be a rifle in his right hand.
After the custody hearing Monday, defense lawyer Luise H?j said she agreed to have her client undergo a mental exam, but she did not comment to reporters on the charges.
The last shooting on this scale for Denmark was in February 2015, when a 22-year-old man was killed in a shootout with police after an attack in the capital that left two people dead and five police officers wounded.
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Sunday’s attack came about a week after a shooting in neighboring Norway, where police said a Norwegian man of Iranian origin opened fire during an LGBTQ festival, killing two and wounding more than 20.
The Styles concert in Copenhagen was canceled due to the shooting.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
