Danish police shot and killed a man early Sunday who likely carried out shooting attacks at a free speech event and a synagogue in Copenhagen that left two people dead.
“We assume that it’s the same culprit behind both incidents… that was shot by the police,” Chief Police inspector Torben Molgaard Jensen told reporters.
Investigator Joergen Skov said, “Nothing at this point suggests there were other perpetrators in the shootings that also left five police officers wounded.”
Skov said the gunman was killed in a fire fight with police in the Noerrebro district of Copenhagen. No police were wounded in that shooting.
The dramatic events that unfolded in Copenhagen stirred fears that another terror spree was underway in a European capital a month after 17 people were killed in Paris attacks.
The first shooting happened before 4pm Saturday when police said a gunman used an automatic weapon to shoot through the windows of the Krudttoenden cultural centre during a panel discussion on freedom of expression featuring a Swedish artist who had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The artist, Lars Vilks, was whisked away unharmed by his bodyguards but a 55-year-old man attending the event was killed, while three police officers were wounded, authorities said. Two belonged to the Danish security service PET, which said the circumstances surrounding the shooting “indicate that we are talking about a terror attack.”
After midnight Sunday, a Jewish man was killed and two police officers were wounded in the second shooting outside the synagogue. Dan Rosenberg Asmussen, the head of Denmark’s Jewish community, told Danish public broadcaster DR that the victim was guarding the entrance of a building adjacent to the synagogue.
Skov said the shooter was confronted by police as he returned to an address that they were keeping under surveillance. Investigators described him as 25 to 30 years old with an athletic build and carrying a black automatic weapon. They released a blurred photograph of the suspect wearing dark clothes and a scarf covering part of his face.