Danish police shot and killed an armed man suspected of killing two people in what the government is treating as terrorist attacks that left Denmark in shock.
Police officers killed an unidentified man early yesterday after he reportedly opened fire on officers who were staking out a Copenhagen location. The man was the sole suspect in two shootings that left one person dead at a cafe hosting a free-speech debate, and another victim at a local synagogue, senior police inspector Joergen Skov.
“Denmark has been hit by terror,” Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said at a news conference in the capital. “There are many questions police are still working on to try to answer.”
Photo: Reuters
The attacks, just five weeks after the mass slaying at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, started with a burst of gunfire on Saturday afternoon at a cafe in the city’s wealthy Oesterbro district. The gathering to debate the role of art and free speech was organized by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, known for his caricature of the Prophet Mohammed.
Vilks, who is under police protection, was escorted to safety. A 55-year-old man who might have been at the cafe to listen to the debate was killed, while three police officers were injured.
In a second attack just after midnight yesterday, a 37-year-old Jewish man was killed outside a synagogue, also in central Copenhagen. Two police officers who had been called in to serve as increased security were also injured. The congregation was hosting 80 guests at a bat mitzvah at the time.
Photo: EPA
The community “is in shock over the attack,” but our thoughts go first and foremost to our member’s family and to the wounded police officers and their families, the Jewish Community umbrella group said in a statement.
Thorning-Schmidt said the Jewish community is an “important part of Denmark.”
In comments on radio, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expects that the “wave of attacks” against Jews in Europe would continue. He called on a “massive immigration” from Europe to Israel.
Danish police used video surveillance to identify a taxi that the suspect took after one of the shootings, Skov said. The taxi driver led them to an address near a Copenhagen train station just northwest of the city center. The suspect reportedly then started shooting after officers tried to make contact and was killed when they fired back.
Police did not give more details about the man, except to say that he had an automatic weapon.
The mass killing last month at Charlie Hebdo in Paris by Muslim extremists fueled debate on how Europe deals with challenges posed by immigration. As in France, Denmark’s top anti-immigration group — the Danish People’s Party — has surged in the polls.
France immediately sent its condolences on Saturday.
Denmark has “all the solidarity of France in this ordeal,” a statement from French President Francois Hollande’s office said.
French Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve traveled to Copenhagen yesterday and is to meet with Danish Minister of Justice Mette Frederiksen at the site of the first shooting.
Among the guests debating the role of art, blasphemy and free speech at the Copenhagen event was French ambassador to Denmark Francois Zimeray. He tweeted that he was “still alive in the room” after the first shooting, and later thanked Danish police for saving his life.
The US condemned the attack as “deplorable.”
“We have been in close contact with our Danish counterparts and stand ready to lend any assistance necessary to the investigation,” US National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in an e-mailed statement.
The Danish Jyllands-Posten newspaper in 2005 published caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed that triggered violent protests across much of the Muslim world.
Those attending the free speech debate “experienced shock and fear — and tragedy,” Vilks wrote on his blog.
Thorning-Schmidt yesterday said that all Danes should continue to “behave as we always do, think and speak as we want to.”
“A society like Denmark can unfortunately not protect itself 100 percent from a mad person,” she said.
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