Monday afternoon Copenhagen’s Tingbjerg neighbourhood sounded once again like something out of a Quentin Tarantino film. Up to 20 shots were fired, and police are still unsure of the reasons behind the gunplay.
“Apparently a couple of men wearing hoodies took shots at a person or persons,” Robert Jensen, an investigator with the Copenhagen Police, told TV2 News.
Witnesses reported that those that had been shot at in the Midtfløjene area returned fire, but police have found no evidence to verify that claim.
“We have not found shell casings at the site that would indicate return fire,” said Jensen. “But the shooters may have used a revolver that does not spit out the casings.”
Thus far, police have recovered 15 shell casings form the area where the original shots came from. The shots hit some parked cars and a wall.
Witnesses said that a man, possibly of Somali descent, had been hit, but police have found no evidence that anyone was hurt.
“We received reports that a young man had been hit in the hand, but we can not find him,” Henrik Orye of the Copenhagen Police told TV 2 News. “We found quite a few shells, but no blood.”
Jensen said that no one had checked into local hospitals seeking treatment for gunshot wounds.
Some witnesses said that the shooters were driving a small dark car, while others reported seeing a black, four-wheel drive SUV racing away from Tingbjerg shortly after the shooting occurred. Police could not be sure if the occupants of the vehicle had anything to do with the incident, or if it was just a coincidence that they drove off shortly after the gunfire.
“We would love to talk with the people in that car,” said Jensen.
Tingbjerg has repeatedly been the setting for gang violence. In August 2008, 19-year-old Osman Nuri Dogan was killed by a barrage of shots from a machine gun after reportedly being involved with the same girl as an AK 81 gang member.
Since then, at least 10 people have died and over 70 have been injured in a spiral of revenge killings and turf wars over the neighbourhood’s cannabis markets.
Jensen said it was too early to predict whether Monday’s shootings were gang-related or personal.
