Copenhagen, July 4 (IANS) Three people were killed and several others injured, three of them critically, during a shooting at a Copenhagen shopping mall, one of the biggest in Denmark, police confirmed on Monday.
"A man in his 40s and two teenagers were killed" in the shooting at Field's Shopping Center located in the Amager district, Copenhagen Chief Police Inspector Soren Thomassen said at a press conference on Monday.
At around 5.35 p.m. on Sunday evening, police received a call regarding the incident, according to Thomassen.
At 5.48 p.m., a 22-year-old Danish man in possession of a rifle and ammunition was arrested outside the shopping mall, he said.
The motive for the shooting remains unknown and the suspect will face questioning by a judge on Monday.
Thomassen said the police cannot rule out the possibility of a terror attack so far.
On Sunday night, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Denmark had suffered a cruel attack.
"Denmark was hit by a cruel attack on Sunday night... Several were killed. Even more wounded. Innocent families shopping or eating out. Children, adolescents and adults.
"Our beautiful and usually so safe capital was changed in a split second," the BBC quoted the Prime Minister as saying.
Denmark's royal family said their "deepest sympathy" was with "the victims, their relatives and all those who are affected by the tragedy".
"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," said the joint statement by Queen Margrethe, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary.
The Field's opened in 2004 and is the second largest shopping mall in Denmark.
It has more than 140 shops and restaurants.
The last time Denmark witnessed a major terror incident was in 2015, when two people were killed and six police officers were injured during an attack on a cultural centre and a synagogue in Copenhagen.
The gunman was later killed in a shootout with police.
The United Nations refugee agency said on Thursday that the situation was quickly deteriorating after Russia's invasion. It appealed to neighbouring countries to keep their borders open to people seeking a safe haven.
There are an estimated 25,000 Indian students in Ukraine alone who are pursuing medicine, engineering, and science courses. More than 2,500 students from Tamil Nadu are estimated to be studying in Ukraine.
The Foreign Secretary stated that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has spoken to his Polish, Romanian, Hungarian, and Slovakian counterparts for setting up a camp at border areas for evacuation of stranded Indian nationals. He also stated that flight options are available through Dubai and Istanbul and that the Indian Embassy continues to be operational in Ukraine.
The Ministry of External Affairs in touch with all the neighbouring countries surrounding Ukraine to even evacuate Indian citizens. Many citizens who were to fly back to India were left at the airport after closure of Ukrainian airspace following Russia's Vladimir Putin announcement of a military operation in Ukraine.
Amidst the prevailing tension, the Indian students stranded in Ukraine are left with no choice but to queue up outside the Indian Embassy in Kiev seeking the authorities' help as they ran out of food and money. The Russian military actions in Ukraine have triggered panic among all sections, including students from India.
Clashes have also been taking place around the capital Kiev in the north and the Black Sea port cities of Odesa and Mariupol in the south, the report said. Air strikes from Russia have been carried out on Ukrainian military bases and airports, with fierce fighting reported around a key airport near Kiev.
