Gunman made last-minute decision not to go through with attack on Danish supermarket
A 19-year-old man who suffers from mental illness has been sentenced to up to five years in a secure psychiatric ward after he came close to carrying out a shooting attack at a Danish supermarket.
On August 21st last year, the man carried a loaded shotgun with ammunition, five knives, a baseball bat and an axe towards a Rema 1000 store in the town of Hareskovby in North Zealand.
During his trial, which concluded Wednesday, he said that he had thoughts of "taking out a bunch of people", but changed his mind after realising about 50 metres from the supermarket that it was wrong.
He had earlier entered the store without a weapon to see how many people were there.
He pleaded guilty prior to his sentencing at the district court in Lyngby near Copenhagen.
The man has Asperger's syndrome and suffers from compulsions and schizotypy, which is a mild form of schizophrenia without hallucinations.
Under Danish law, persons who are considered insane at the time of a crime, including due to mental illness, cannot be given prison sentences.
Instead, they can be sentenced to detention in secure facilities. This means that, instead of a deprivation of freedom as with a prison sentence, they are admitted to hospital care and given treatment.
The 19-year-old had already agreed prior to the verdict that he should be placed in detention. He will not appeal against the sentence.
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On August 21st last year, the man carried a loaded shotgun with ammunition, five knives, a baseball bat and an axe towards a Rema 1000 store in the town of Hareskovby in North Zealand.
During his trial, which concluded Wednesday, he said that he had thoughts of "taking out a bunch of people", but changed his mind after realising about 50 metres from the supermarket that it was wrong.
He had earlier entered the store without a weapon to see how many people were there.
He pleaded guilty prior to his sentencing at the district court in Lyngby near Copenhagen.
The man has Asperger's syndrome and suffers from compulsions and schizotypy, which is a mild form of schizophrenia without hallucinations.
Under Danish law, persons who are considered insane at the time of a crime, including due to mental illness, cannot be given prison sentences.
Instead, they can be sentenced to detention in secure facilities. This means that, instead of a deprivation of freedom as with a prison sentence, they are admitted to hospital care and given treatment.
The 19-year-old had already agreed prior to the verdict that he should be placed in detention. He will not appeal against the sentence.
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