An officer was wounded and an innocent civilian bystander injured in the Copenhagen district of Nørrebro during the night when a banale body search for hash developed into a shooting episode.

A nationwide search is under way for the unidentified gunmen, whom police say were seen running from the scene, while other witnesses suggest were in a vehicle.

The plain clothes police officer, who is reported to have been shot in the arm and stomach is said to be stable. The civilian, who is reported to be a well-known rap artist, has been treated for a graze wound to the face.

“We are interested in all witnesses coming forward. Anyone who has seen anything . Did the gunmen leave on a bicycle , did they run away or did they get into a car. Anyone who knows anything,” Police Spokesman Tommy Keil tells politiken.dk.

Hash
Trouble is said to have started when plain clothes officers stopped a small group of young men to search them for narcotics. As one officer drew one young man aside in order to issue a fine for a small amount of hash, shots rang out.

“Officers saw the shadows of two or three men running away. First of all it was as if time stood still, and then chaos broke loose,” Keil says.

Rapper
Ekstrabladet.dk says that the civilian who was also grazed by a projectile was the well-known Northern Jutland rapper Niarn.

Immediately prior to the events in Nørrebro, another shooting episode took place in Tingbjerg, a few kilometres from Nørrebro when 20-30 shots were fired, but no-one was hit. It is not clear whether the Tingbjerg incident was an attempt to draw police away from Nørrebro.

Anyone with information on the night’s incidents can contact police on 3314 1448.