Harry Styles cancels Copenhagen concert after mass shooting at nearby shopping mall

Fans escorted from arena by police as show pulled minutes before One Direction star due on stage

Harry Styles (Ian West/PA) (PA Wire)

A Harry Styles concert in Copenhagen has been cancelled following after several people were shot dead at nearby shopping centre.

The former One Direction star, 28, had been due to performing at the Royal Arena venue on Sunday night as part of his highly-anticipated Love On Tour shows.

On Sunday afternoon, Danish police responded to a shooting at the Field’s shopping centre less than a mile away from the arena, which is situated on the southern outskirts of the city.

Several people have been killed with others injured, police said, while a 22-year-old Danish man has been arrested after being detained near the site.

In a post on Snapchat, Styles said: “My team and I pray for everyone involved in the Copenhagen shopping mall shooting. I am shocked. Love H.”

A woman and children flee the Field’s shopping centre (Olafur Steinar Gestsson/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) (AP)

The PA news agency had initially reported the show was expected to go ahead despite the shooting as law enforcement in the area has indicated to organisers they are safely permitted to do so.

But the show, which had been due to begin at 8pm local time (7pm UK time), was delayed and then ultimately cancelled. Video posted on social media showed an announcer on stage informing fans already in the arena that the concert would not go ahead and police would escort them to the metro for them to leave the area.

“I know this has been done to keep everyone safe but it’s so heartbreaking,” one fan wrote on social media.

Styles was due to take his Love On Tour show around the world in 2020 before the pandemic brought the live music industry to a standstill.

The rescheduled tour began in September 2021 in Las Vegas before heading across the US, with the European tour leg kicking off in Glasgow last month.