Two men arrested in Copenhagen shootings

According to a statement released by Copenhagen police on Monday, two suspects had been apprehended in connection with a terrorist attack in the Danish capital over the weekend.

"The two men are charged with helping the perpetrator through advice and deeds in relation to the shootings at Krudttonden and in Krystalgade," the police said.

The suspected gunman, whose identity Danish police have not released, was shot and killed by police near his apartment building in the Noerrebro district on Sunday, bringing a manhunt of several hours to an end.

Copenhagen police said the suspect was born and raised in Denmark and was already "on the radar" of the intelligence services. Authorities are now investigating whether he had travelled to conflict zones such as Syria and Iraq.

"He may have been inspired by the events that took place in Paris a few weeks ago," Jens Madsen, head of the Danish intelligence agency PET added, referring to the attacks in Paris in which 17 people were killed, including four Jews.

Belief in liberty

The Copenhagen shooter first attacked a panel discussion on Saturday evening, which was attended by Lars Vilks, a Swedish artist who has received death threats for satirizing the Prophet Muhammad in cartoons.

A 55-year-old man, later identified as documentary filmmaker Finn Noergaard, was killed in the attack and three police officers were wounded.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, the suspect then went on to shoot a Jewish security guard outside Copenhagen's main synagogue, where around 80 people were celebrating a bat mitzvah. The guard, identified as 37-year-old Dan Uzan, later died of his injuries. Two police officers were slightly wounded in the second attack.

Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt has since urged Danish citizens to maintain a balanced perspective on what had happened.

"We don't know the motive for the attacks but we know that there are forces that want to harm Denmark, that want to crush our freedom of expression, our belief in liberty," she said on Sunday.

ksb/kms (AFP, AP, Reuters)