Terror in Denmark: Police Kill Gunman After Copenhagen Attacks

Police killed an unidentified man early Sunday after he 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, according to police inspector Joergen Skov.

“Denmark has been hit by terror,” Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said at a press conference in the Danish capital. “There are many questions police are still working on to try to answer.”

The attacks, just five weeks after the massacre at the 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 Muhammad. Vilks, who’s under police protection, was rushed to safety. A 55-year-old man who had probably been at the cafe to listen to the debate was killed while three police officers were injured.

‘In Shock’

In a second attack just after midnight Sunday, a 37-year- old Jewish man was killed outside a synagogue, also in central Copenhagen. Two police officers that had been called in as increased security were also injured. The congregation was hosting a Bat Mitzvah at the time, with 80 guests on the scene.

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, an 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 will 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 then started shooting after police tried to make contact and was killed when they fired back.

Police didn’t give more details of the man, except to say that he was armed with an automatic weapon.

French Solidarity

The massacre last month at Charlie Hebdo in Paris by radical Islamists fueled debate on how Europe is dealing with challenges posed by immigration. As in France, Denmark’s 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,” according to a statement from President Francois Hollande’s office. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve traveled to Copenhagen Sunday and will meet with Justice Minister 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 the French ambassador to Denmark, Francois Zimeray. He tweeted that he was “still alive in the room” after the first shooting took place, and later thanked Danish police for saving his life.

The U.S. 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,” National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in an e-mailed statement.

Jihad Jane

Denmark is home to the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which in 2005 published a series of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that triggered violent protests across much of the Muslim world. Vilks’s drawing depicting Muhammad with the body of a dog left Swedish media divided, with some refusing to publish the image amid security concerns.

Those attending the free speech debate “experienced shock and fear -- and tragedy,” Vilks wrote on his blog. As to the matter of free speech, “where do we stand now with that question?” he wrote.

The 68-year-old is kept under police protection. In January last year, Colleen LaRose, an American who used the alias “Jihad Jane,” was sentenced to 10 years in prison for her role in a plot to murder the Swedish artist. LaRose had pleaded guilty in February 2011 to conspiring to provide support to terrorists and commit murder in a foreign country.

Thorning-Schmidt today said 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.