2 dead in Copenhagen shootings; one victim was Jewish guard outside synagogue bat mitzva

Danish police say they shot and killed the man responsible for the attacks.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, REUTERS
Scene of Copenhagen attack
Two people were killed and five wounded in gun attacks on a Copenhagen cafe hosting a freedom of speech debate and a synagogue early Sunday morning.
Danish police said they shot  and killed the man responsible for the two shootings.
"We assume that it's the same culprit behind both incidents, and we also assume that the culprit that was shot by the police task force on Norreport station is the person behind both of these assassinations," Chief police inspector Torben Molgaard Jensen told reporters.
The first attack, in broad daylight on Saturday, targeted a cafe attended by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has been threatened with death for his cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. Also attending a debate at the cafe was French ambassador Francois Zimeray who praised Denmark's support for freedom of speech following the January attack in Paris on the weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo that killed a dozen people.
Witnesses said that barely had the envoy finished an introduction to the meeting, when up to 40 shots rang out, outside the venue, as an attacker tried to shoot inside. Police said they considered Vilks, the main speaker, to have been the target. A 55-year-old man died as a result of that shooting, police said early on Sunday. Police said earlier the victim was a 40-year-old man.
Hours later, during the night, shots were fired at a synagogue in another part of the city, about a half hour walk away from the cafe.
A man was shot in the head, and was later confirmed to have died. Two police officers were wounded. It was later reported that the victim, a Jewish community member in his 30s, was guarding outside a bat mitzva celebration at the synagogue, according to Denmark's BT newspaper. It was reported that 80 people were attending the celebration at the time.
“We had contacted the police after the shooting at Café Krudttønden to have them present at the bat-mitzva, but unfortunately this happened anyway," Copenhagen Jewish community leader Dan Rosenberg Asmussen told Denmark's TV 2 News, as reported in The Guardian. “I dare not think about what would have happened if (the killer) had access to the congregation."
"We feel certain now that it was a politically motivated attack, and thereby it was a terrorist attack," Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt told journalists, speaking on Saturday close to the site of the cafe. Police said the cafe shooter had escaped in a Volkswagen Polo and a manhunt ensued with helicopters roaring overhead and the streets of Copenhagen filled with an array of armored vehicles.
Helle Merete Brix, organizer of the event at the cafe, told Reuters she had seen an attacker wearing a mask.
"The security guards shouted 'Everyone get out!' and we were being pushed out of the room," Brix said.
"They tried to shoot their way into the conference room ... I saw one of them running by, wearing a mask. There was no way to tell his face."
Denmark itself became a target after the publication 10 years ago of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad, images which led to sometimes fatal protests in the Muslim world. Many Muslims consider any representation of the Prophet Mohammad blasphemous.
Eyewitness accounts of Copenhagen synagogue shooting
He has lived under the protection of Swedish police since 2010. Two years ago, an American woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the United States for plotting to kill him.
French President Francois Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve were expected to go to the Danish capital later on Sunday.
The attacks bore similarities to the January 17 attack in Paris, when brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi burst into the office of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and opened fire in revenge for its satirical images of the Prophet Mohammad.
In all, 17 people were killed over three days of violence in France.
European Council President Donald Tusk called Saturday's attack "another brutal terrorist attack targeted at our fundamental values and freedoms, including the freedom of expression."