The mass shooting in Copenhagen looks to many to be a jihad style attack but that’s not the position that I take on this incident. There is much about what has come out so far that suggests this is something else and not jihad.

Here’s why I think the way that I do.

The gunman was obviously not trying to be a martyr for anything or any cause. He stayed alive long enough to be arrested, which is not what we’ve seen too often with those who carry out jihad attacks.

It turned out that this murderer was not an import such as a ‘refugee’ and has been described as an ‘ethnic Dane’. Unless this person is some sort of convert to Islam then I doubt that this series of murders is Islam related.

The information about the murderers ethnicity came out pretty early in the press coverage which is not what we’ve come to expect when there has been Islamic terrorism. In these cases such data as pertains to the identity is often held back by mainstream media possibly for fear of sparking off ‘Islamophobia’.

Denmark has not had a similar incident since 2015. Therefore it’s not part of a pattern of jihad activity of the sort that we’ve seen in France, Germany and the UK.

The person arrested has not been charged with any terrorism related offences. He’s been charged with murder.

While this case is in its early stages and the motivation for the killer’s actions have not been outlined in open court, there are strong grounds to believe that this incident is not jihad related. I could of course be wrong and it could turn out to be jihad, but from what’s come out so far I don’t think that this series of killings fits the jihad attack pattern.

I suspect, based on some of the rumours that I’ve heard zipping around the web that this tragedy might be either gang related or genuinely the result of catastrophic mental illness. We shall of course see how this pans out.