Copenhagen, Denmark (BBN)-A shooting near a synagogue in Copenhagen has left one person dead and two injured, hours after a deadly attack at a cafe in the city.
Later, police said they had shot and killed one person near a train station in the Danish capital.
It was not immediately clear whether or how the shootings were connected.
They began when a gunman killed one person and injured three at a free speech debate attended by a Swedish cartoonist.
Hours later, a gunman opened fire on Krystalgade street, about 5km (three miles) from the scene of the first attack.
A civilian was shot in the head and was later confirmed to have died, and two police officers suffered injuries to their arms and legs. The attacker is believed to have fled.
BARRAGE OF GUNSHOTS
The BBC’s Malcolm Brabant reports from Copenhagen that the Danish capital has been abuzz with sirens and helicopters, amid fears that other attacks could be imminent.
Police have warned residents that it is not safe to be in the city centre. They launched a massive manhunt after the first shooting.
An audio recording, obtained exclusively by the BBC, revealed the moments leading up to the attack.
One of the speakers at the debate, which took place at a cafe and concerned the limits of free speech, is suddenly interrupted by a barrage of gunshots.
Speaking to the BBC, eyewitness Dennis Myhoff-Brink said: “People were trying to get to the doors, trying to get out of the room, hiding between or behind the tables and chairs, and some people were running out into the street.”
Officials said the gunman made his getaway by car, and a black Volkswagen Polo was later found abandoned a short distance away from the scene, police said.
Police released photographs showing the alleged attacker apparently wearing a purple balaclava and thick puffer jacket.
Police spokesman Allan Wadsworth-Hansen said the first shooting was likely terror-related and “it makes a perfect sense to investigate it [the second shooting] down the same route”.
Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt described the first attack as a “politically motivated” act of terrorism.
BLASPHEMY DEBATE
Cartoonist Lars Vilks, who has faced death threats over his caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, said he believed he was the intended target of the attack. He was unhurt.
The French ambassador, Francois Zimeray, was also present during the attack.
A description of the debate at the cafe asked whether artists could “dare” to be blasphemous in the wake of attacks by Islamist gunmen in Paris last month against satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
In the French attacks, two gunmen opened fire at Charlie Hebdo’s office, shooting dead 12 people. Two days later, a suspected accomplice of the militants took hostages at a Jewish shop, killing four of them.
All three attackers were eventually shot dead by police and security services.
BBN/SS-15Feb15-11:00am (BST)
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
