Gunman kills lawyer, wounds client in shooting at Denmark courthouse
A gunman killed a lawyer and critically wounded his client Tuesday in a courthouse shooting in Denmark.
It may have been the first shooting in the history of the Copenhagen City Court, which was founded in 1771, the Associated Press reports.
The names of the 57-year-old attorney who was killed and his 31-year-old male client were not released. Police said the unidentified gunman, who was taken into custody nearby along with a sawed-off shotgun, was the father of a woman in a child-custody battle with the lawyer’s client, according to the news agency and BBC News.
The Daily Mail said the gunman is 67 years old.
Metal detectors aren’t ordinarily used in Danish courthouses, except in high-profile criminal cases.
“It is a family tragedy, not an attack on the court or the legal system,” said Soeren Axelsen, the court’s chief.
A judges’ association told the BBC its members are alarmed the assailant was able to get a firearm into the courthouse and had been saying for years that such an incident could occur.
