Danish police kill gunman believed behind 2 shootings

LONDON Police in Copenhagen killed a gunman early Sunday they believe was responsible for a pair of deadly attacks just hours earlier, the first at a cafe hosting a forum on free speech and the second outside a synagogue where a bar mitzvah was underway.

The killings, with their eerie echo of last months terrorist attacks in Paris, had sent Denmarks capital into lockdown and had prompted a massive manhunt that extended across the border into Sweden. In all, the attacks left two people dead and five police officers injured.

At a news conference on Sunday morning, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said the country had been hit by terror.

We do not know the motive for the alleged perpetrators actions, but we know that there are forces that want to hurt Denmark, the prime minister said, adding that they wanted to stifle Denmarks freedom of speech.

Police said Sunday that they were confident that the man they fatally shot near a train station was the assailant in both attacks and that they had identified him using CCTV footage. Police were staking out a location associated with the suspect when a man approached and began shooting, prompting officers to return fire, a police official said.

Danish police have fatally shot a man early Sunday suspected of carrying out shooting attacks at a free speech event and later at a Copenhagen synagogue, leaving two people dead and five police officers injured. (AP)

The culprit that was shot by the police task force at Norreport station is the person behind both of these assassinations, Torben Molgaard Jensen, the chief police inspector, told reporters.

Survivors of the two attacks said they appeared to have been an attempt to mimic the Paris terrorist strikes, in which the staff of a satirical publication was massacred and four hostages were shot dead at a kosher supermarket.

The French ambassador to Denmark and a cartoonist previously targeted for depicting the prophet Muhammad were among those taking part in the debate at the cafe who survived the gunfire.

It was the same intention as Charlie Hebdo, except they didnt manage to get in, the French ambassador, Franois Zimeray, told the news service Agence France-Presse, referring to the Jan. 7 attack in Paris on the satirical newspaper. Intuitively, I would say there were at least 50 gunshots, and the police here are saying 200. Bullets went through the doors, and everyone threw themselves to the floor.

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Danish police kill gunman believed behind 2 shootings