Yesterday’s dramatic shooting in front of the bailiff's court near Town Hall Square, which left one person dead and another critically wounded, was the result of a family feud caused by a messy divorce.
According to the police, the case revolved around visitation rights to the divorced couple's child, and this led to the grandfather bringing a sawn-off hunting rifle into the court yesterday.
The grandfather, on the mother’s side, then shot the child’s father, 31, and the father’s lawyer, 57, who was mortally wounded and declared dead on site.
“Six shots were fired, in the court room and in the hallway outside,” Deputy Police Inspector Jens Møller Jensen told Jyllands-Posten newspaper.
”A 67-year-old man was arrested relatively quickly in the area. After the shooting, a deputy judge saw him flee on foot, and he was able to direct the police in the direction he had gone. He was arrested shortly afterwards.
READ MORE: Updated: Two men shot outside bailiff's court near Town Hall Square
Better security needed
The father, who sustained at least four shots to his body, remains in a critical but stable condition at the city hospital Rigshospitalet.
Video recordings from the court show that the grandfather had brought the rifle in a brown bag, and the justice minister, Karen Hækkerup, said the episode showed that extra security is needed in Danish courts.
“I think we have to admit that the consequence will be more security,” Hækkerup said according to TV2 News.
“This spring, we pushed a proposal through parliament that changed the administration of justice law permitting better body searches when entering a court.”
