Despite Denmark having some of, if not, the strictest gun laws in Europe, several people were killed Sunday in Copenhagen after a gunman opened fire in a shopping center.

The gunman, Søren Thomassen, has been identified as a 22-year-old, head of the Copenhagen police operations unit said during a press conference, and that the gunman has been arrested. “Several” people are dead and have been injured, Thomassen added but did not give specific numbers.

“There are several injured, and what we also know now is that there are several dead,” Thomassen said. “We do not have information that others are involved. This is what we know now.”

According to several sources, police became aware of the shooting at the Field’s shopping center in Denmark’s capital at around 5:36 p.m, and a massive law enforcement presence followed.

“One person has been arrested in connection with the shooting at Fields. We currently are not able to say more about the person concerned,” Copenhagen police tweeted. “We have a massive presence at Fields and are working on getting an overview.”

Initial reports of the mass shooting were posted to Twitter indicating that “shots were fired in a mall in #Copenhagen, in #Denmark. The Copenhagen police is treating this shooting inside the shopping center as a “serious mass victim event.”

According to Fox News, a witness to the shooting, Rikke Levandovski, told TV2 in Denmark that the suspect allegedly was shooting into the crowd.

“He is just shooting into the crowd, not up in ceiling or into the floor,” she added. Levandovski said. “People first thought it was a thief … Then I suddenly hear shots and threw myself behind the counter inside the store.”

Denmark has VERY strict gun laws, especially on exactly who can acquire what type of firearm.

They only allow private firearm possession for the purposes of hunting and sport shooting!

All gun licenses have to be specially authorized by the Minister of Justice. License holders are allowed to own multiple firearms, but have to get a separate permit for each weapon. That means, for each firearm you purchase, you have to go through the process of getting a permit — which, depending on what type it is, could be a LONG time!