Copenhagen mall shooter appeals high security psych ward sentence

Copenhagen, July 19, (dpa/GNA) – The Danish man convicted of a deadly rampage at a Copenhagen shopping mall, has appealed his sentencing to a placement in a high-security psychiatric ward, his defence attorney told the Danish news agency Ritzau.

The man, 23, accepts that he is guilty, but wants an appeals court to consider whether placement in the high-security facility is necessary, his attorney said.

During the trial, the defence counsel had presented arguments that it would be sufficient to place him in an ordinary psychiatric ward.

The man had until Wednesday to decide whether to appeal the verdict of the Copenhagen Municipal Court.

The court found him guilty on all charges two weeks ago, and sentenced him to indefinite placement in a high-security psychiatric facility, known as Sikringen, reserved for the most dangerous convicts with mental illness in Denmark.

A girl and a boy, each aged 17, and a 46-year-old man were killed in the shooting at Field’s large shopping mall in Copenhagen’s Ørestad district, on July 3, 2022. Several other people were injured.

The perpetrator, who was 22 years old at the time, was arrested outside the building a few minutes after the shooting.

GNA