Chaos broke out in Odense last night when a conflict between two rival groups in the suburb of Vollsmose surged, resulting in a young man being critically injured.
After a shooting victim was brought into the emergency room at the Odense University hospital, a group of between 60 to 70 men showed up and began to vandalise and create disorder.
“There were pictures torn down from the walls. There were vases knocked into pieces. It was quite intimidating to both the staff and police there, and several officers had to fire their guns to get them to disappear,” the head of security at Funen Police, Erik Halkjær, told bt.dk.
In connection with the ongoing investigation currently going on at Bøgeparken in Vollsmose, the Funen Police have arrested six people who are suspected to have been involved in the hospital vandalism, according to Ritzau.
The trouble started during Eid celebrations in Vollsmose when a 26-year-old man was shot in one leg and stabbed in the other, and another man, a 24-year-old, was hit by a car which fled the scene.
“It most likely involves two groups of immigrants from Vollsmose, but we do not know anything about the motive. We have not been able to talk to the victim as he is still in intensive care,” the Funen Police deputy commissioner Jack Liedecke told DR News earlier today.
“There has been some unrest in Odense recently, but we could not predict that it would result in this,” he added.
Later in the night, the chaos continued in the centre of Odense, where members of the two groups clashed.
It was then that the group of 60-70 people stormed Odense University Hospital in an attempt to reach the shooting and hit-and-run victims. The group threatened hospital staff and police, vandalising furniture and police cars along the way. In total, one ambulance and four police cars were destroyed from the night’s events.
Police reported that although this was not the first time people have come to the entrance hall of the emergency room to cause trouble, no one has made it all the way to the emergency room before.
“It is not unusual that you meet many people in the emergency room either trying to get ahold of the victim or to give support to the person who has been brought in. We have seen that many times,” Liedecke said.
The 26-year-old victim was admitted to the hospital in a fatally critical condition due to significant blood loss, but after a lengthy surgery, he is now in a more stable condition. Police are continuing to investigate the incident.
