A gunman opened fire inside a busy shopping mall in the Danish capital Sunday, killing three people and critically wounding three others, police said. A 22-year-old Danish man was arrested after the shooting, Copenhagen police inspector Søren Thomassen told reporters, adding there was no indication that anyone else was involved in the attack, though police were still investigating. Gun violence is relatively rare in Denmark. Thomassen said it was too early to speculate on the motive for the shooting, which happened in the late afternoon at Field’s, one of the biggest shopping malls in Scandinavia and located on the outskirts of the Danish capital. When the shots rang out, some people hid in shops while others fled in a panicked stampede, according to witnesses. “It is pure terror. This is awful,” said Hans Christian Stoltz, a 53-year-old IT consultant, who was bringing his daughters to see Harry Styles perform at concert scheduled for Sunday night near the mall. “You might wonder how a person can do this to another human being, but it’s beyond … beyond anything that’s possible.” Thomassen said the victims included a man in his 40s and two “young people,” without giving details. Several others were injured, three of them critically, he said. He said police received the first reports of a shooting at 5.37 p.m., and arrested the suspect 11 minutes later. Thomassen described the suspect as an “ethnic Dane,” a phrase typically used to mean someone is white. 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. “He seemed very violent and angry,” eyewitness Mahdi Al-Wazni told TV2. “He spoke to me and said it (the rifle) isn’t real as I was filming him. He seemed very proud of what he was doing.” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the Scandinavian country had been hit by a “cruel attack.” “It is incomprehensible. Heartbreaking. Pointless,” she said. “Our beautiful and usually so safe capital was changed in a split second.” Also read: Russian missile strike hits crowded shopping mall in Ukraine Images from the scene showed people running out of the mall, and TV2 posted a photo of a man being put on a stretcher. After the shooting, an enormous contingent of heavily armed police officers patrolled the area, with several fire department vehicles also parked outside the mall. Laurits Hermansen told Danish broadcaster DR that he was in a clothing store at the shopping center 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.” The shopping center is on the outskirts of Copenhagen just across from a subway station for a line that connects the city center with the international airport. A major highway also runs adjacent to the mall. Organizers called off the Harry Styles concert, which had been scheduled at the nearby Royal Arena, by order of police. On Snapchat, Styles wrote: “My team and I pray for everyone involved in the Copenhagen shopping mall shooting. I am shocked. Love H.” The royal palace said a reception with Crown Prince Frederik connected to the Tour de France cycling race had been canceled. The first three stages of the race were held in Denmark this year. The reception was due to be held on the royal yacht that is moored in Soenderborg, the town where the third stage ended. In a joint statement, Queen Margrethe, her son Crown Prince Frederik and his wife, Crown Princess Mary, said: “We do not yet know the full extent of the tragedy, but it is already clear that more people have lost their lives and that even more have been injured.” “The situation calls for unity and care,” they said in a statement. The shooting came a week after a mass shooting in neighboring Norway, where police said a Norwegian man of Iranian origin opened fire during a LGBTQ festival, killing two and wounding more than 20. It was the worst gun attack in Denmark since February 2015, when a 22-year-old man was killed in a shootout with police after going on a shooting spree in the capital that left two people dead and five police officers wounded.

After three emotional European Championship matches in Copenhagen, Denmark will next play in a city that Christian Eriksen once called home. The Danes will take on Wales in the round of 16 at the Johan Cruyff Arena on Saturday, a stadium where Eriksen is fondly remembered by Ajax fans as a stylish midfield playmaker from 2010-13 before his transfer to Tottenham. Denmark lost its first Euro 2020 match to Finland 1-0 after Eriksen suffered cardiac arrest on the field and had to be resuscitated with a defibrillator. The Danes also lost to Belgium before beating Russia 4-1 to finish second in Group B and advance to knockout rounds. “I’m thinking a lot about Christian and how much I have hoped that he could experience this,” Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand said. “He has been looking forward to this summer so much, it’s a big, big dream for Christian, and just to know that he’s not here hurts.” Wales coach Rob Page paid tribute to the way the Denmark team had coped with the situation, but said his team has to focus solely on the match. “Obviously the world has taken note of what’s happened and the emotion involved in it, but we can’t get involved in that now,” he said. “It’s work as usual for us and now we’ve got a job to do and we want to go and finish it.” While Denmark is hitting the road for the first time at a tournament that is being played in 11 cities across Europe, Wales have had a tougher travel schedule. The team based itself in Baku, Azerbaijan, where it played its first two matches before facing Italy in Rome and traveling to the Netherlands for the round of 16. “On paper it sounds like a great idea to have it all around Europe but logistically it is an absolute nightmare, and throw COVID into that mix as well,” Page said. Also read: Record-chasing Italy becoming the team to fear at Euro 2020 Wales’ victory over Turkey and a draw with Switzerland were enough for second place behind Italy in Group A. The Welsh lost 1-0 in their final match against the Italian, one of the tournament’s top teams. Now Wales is hoping it can build up the same kind of momentum that carried it to the semifinals of Euro 2016, where it lost to eventual champion Portugal 2-0. Gareth Bale, one of the stars of the 2016 campaign, is his country’s all-time leading scorer with 33 goals, but he has not scored in his last 14 internationals and missed a penalty against Turkey in Baku. Aaron Ramsey, another of the veterans from the tournament in France, is hoping to improve on the team’s performance five years ago. “We’re a threat. We keep games tight, so who knows,” Eamsey said. “Why not go all the way again?” Wales will be without midfielder Ethan Ampadu, who is suspended after being sent off early in the second half of the team’s final group match against Italy for a foul on Federico Bernardeschi. Hjulmand said it would be tough to prepare against an unpredictable Welsh team. “They’re very flexible. They change their strategy and their positions so it’s going to be hard to know what to expect from that team,” he said. Page said it’s uncertain how Denmark will set up for Saturday’s match. What he does know is that Wales has to match the Danes physically. “Irrespective of what 11 he puts on the pitch, they’re going to work, battle, fight for each other and we have to match that,” Page said. Also read: Finland beats Denmark at Euro 2020 after Eriksen's collapse Players on both sides should have a good idea what to expect from one another — Kasper Schmeichel and Danny Ward both play for Premier League club Leicester. “We have great competition and we have a really great relation to each other,” Schmeichel said of Ward. “I don’t see any any weakness in him. He’s a complete goalkeeper.” Also, Ben Davies and Joe Rodon are Tottenham teammates with Denmark midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. Bale also played on loan for the London club last season. Hojbjerg called Bale “one of the best players I’ve ever played with.” “I know how much Wales mean to him, I know how much tomorrow’s game means to him,” Hojbjerg said. “I wish him the best, just not tomorrow.” The winner of Saturday’s match will head to Baku — where Wales is undefeated in two matches at this tournament — to face either the Netherlands or the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals on July 3.

Stockholm, Aug 7 (AP/UNB) — Danish police say a powerful explosion has occurred outside a tax office in the capital, Copenhagen, shattering windows and damaging the building. No one is believed to have been injured.