Shots fired at Copenhagen cafe free speech event, reports say

Danish police shot and killed a man early Sunday suspected of carrying out shooting attacks at a free speech event and then at a Copenhagen synagogue, killing a Danish documentary filmmaker and a member of the Scandinavian country's Jewish community. Five police officers were also wounded in the attacks.

Denmark has been hit by terror, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said. We do not know the motive for the alleged perpetrator's actions, but we know that there are forces that want to hurt Denmark. They want to rebuke our freedom of speech.

Jens Madsen, head of the Danish intelligence agency PET, said investigators believe the gunman was inspired by Islamic radicalism.

PET is working on a theory that the perpetrator could have been inspired by the events in Paris. He could also have been inspired by material sent out by (Islamic State) and others, Madsen said.

Islamic radicals carried out a massacre at the Charlie Hebdo newsroom in Paris last month, followed by an attack on Jews at a kosher grocery store, taking the lives of 17 victims.

At a news conference Madsen also said investigators have identified the suspect and that he is someone who had been on the agency's radar. He did not reveal his identity.

Later Sunday, at least two people with handcuffs were taken out by police from an Internet cafe in Copenhagen, Danish media reported. Police spokesman Steen Hansen told the Associated Press that the action was part of the police investigation but declined to give further details.

The Danish Film Institute said the 55-year-old man killed at the free speech event was documentary filmmaker Finn Noergaard.

The institute's chief Henrik Bo Nielsen said he was shocked and angry to find out Noergaard was gunned down while attending a discussion on art and free speech.

Noergaard directed and produced documentaries for Danish television, including the 2004 Boomerang Boy about an Australian boy's dreams to become a world boomerang champion and the 2008 Le Le about Vietnamese immigrants in Denmark.

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Shots fired at Copenhagen cafe free speech event, reports say