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Denmark charges suspect in Field’s shooting with murder

A man suspected of killing three people in the Field’s shopping mall in Copenhagen last July has been charged with murder and attempted murder, the prosecution service said on Wednesday.

Denmark charges suspect in Field’s shooting with murder
People outside Field's shopping mall in Copenhagen on July 11th last year, a week after a shooting attack that claimed three lives. Photo: Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix

“The 23-year-old man is accused of killing three people, a 17-year-old boy, a 17-year-old girl and a 46-year-old man”, it said in a statement.

The man, whose identity has not been disclosed, has also been charged with 11 counts of attempted murder.

This represents an increase from the seven charges of attempted murder from an earlier charge sheet, which stated that four people were in life threatening conditions due to the attack and three others were also hit.

Arrested outside Field’s just after the July 3rd shooting, the man, who has a history of mental health illness, has been detained in a closed psychiatric ward.

Investigators believe the attack was planned, Danish media have reported.

Copenhagen Police special prosecutor Søren Harbo described the case as “extraordinarily serious” and that it had been investigated “very carefully”.

“At the public prosecution authority, we have completed a thorough legal review of the extensive case material and have therefore pressed charges on that background,” he said in a press statement.

During a court hearing in November, police said they had interviewed witnesses 250 times during the investigation.

A charge sheet with more detailed description of the police charges will be released to the media on April 5th, news wire Ritzau reports.

Both the prosecution and the defence lawyer for the accused have stated that he accepts the factual circumstances as he recalls them.

He denies guilt with reference to criminal law paragraph 16, the Danish equivalent of the mental disorder or insanity plea in criminal cases.

The case has been scheduled to take place over six days at Copenhagen City Court from June 12th to July 5th.

READ ALSO: Danish taskforce concludes no single reason for Field’s shooting

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CRIME

Danish police charge man for entering supermarket with loaded shotgun

A man has been charged by Denmark’s police prosecution service after he entered a supermarket carrying a loaded shotgun among several other weapons.

Danish police charge man for entering supermarket with loaded shotgun

The incident took place in a Rema 1000 supermarket in the town of Hareskovby in northern Zealand in August last year and has been kept secret from the public until now, with court proceedings taking place behind closed doors.

In addition to the firearm, the 19-year-old man was also carrying an axe, five knives and a baseball bat.

The prosecution is charging the man for breaking laws related to firearms possession under aggravated circumstances. It is unclear how the 19-year-old will plead.

Newspaper BT reported last autumn that police suspected the man of intending to commit a mass shooting, but this has never been confirmed.

The supermarket is located close to a former residence of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who lived there at the time of the incident and used the supermarket on a number of occasions. Police previously told BT they do not believe Frederiksen was a target.

According to the charge sheet presented on Tuesday, the man is currently admitted to a psychiatric ward. The prosecution is not seeking a prison sentence in the case but is demanding he be brought to a secure psychiatric facility for up to five years.

Danish law does not permit custodial sentences to be given to persons who are deemed “unaccountable due to a mental illness” (Danish: utilregnelig på grund af singssygdom) at the time the offence was committed.

The incident in the Rema 1000 store took place less than two months after a mass shooting in the Field’s shopping mall in Copenhagen which resulted in three deaths. The Field’s shooter was recently sentenced to indefinite detention, with his mental state both during and after the event a factor in the sentence.

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