Copenhagen police said Sunday that the two shootings Saturday in the Danish capital were carried out by a gunman who may have been influenced by last month’s Paris terror attacks at the headquarters of the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine and at the Hyper Cacher supermarket, reports The Times of Israel.
Two people, including Dan Uzan, a security guard in his late 30s and member of the Copenhagen Jewish community, were killed and five police officers were wounded in the shootings, stirring fears that another terror spree was under way in a European capital a month after 17 people were killed in the Paris attacks.
On Sunday, police said they shot and killed the man they believed had carried out both shootings. The shootings took place at a free-speech event featuring an artist who had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad and, hours later, outside a synagogue in the Danish capital.
Uzan was killed outside the synagogue, which he was guarding at the time.
Police have not yet released information on the identity or motives of the attacker.
The suspect on Sunday was identified in several Danish media outlets as Omar El-Hussein. Ekstra-Bladet, a Danish tabloid, reported that the 22-year-old, Danish-born man was released from jail only two weeks ago after serving a term for aggravated assault.
The first shooting happened shortly before 4 p.m. Saturday. Danish police said the gunman used an automatic weapon to shoot through the windows of the Krudttoenden cultural center during a panel discussion on freedom of expression following the Paris attacks. A 55-year-old man attending the event was killed, while three police officers were wounded. Two officers belonged to the Danish security service PET, which said the circumstances surrounding the shooting “indicate that we are talking about a terror attack.”
The gunman then fled in a carjacked Volkswagen Polo that was later found a few kilometers away, police said.
Lars Vilks, a Swedish artist who has faced numerous death threats for caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad, was one of the main speakers at the event, titled “Art, blasphemy and freedom of expression.” He was whisked away by his bodyguards unharmed as the shooting began.
Vilks, 68, later told The Associated Press he believed he was the intended target of the shooting.
“What other motive could there be? It’s possible it was inspired by Charlie Hebdo,” he said, referring to the January 7th attack by Islamic extremists on the French weekly that had angered Muslims by lampooning Muhammad.
Police spokesman Joergen Skov said it was possible the gunman had planned the “same scenario” as in the Charlie Hebdo massacre.