Suspect in Copenhagen attacks shot dead by police

Police in Denmark have shot dead the man they believe to be behind gun attacks that killed two people in the capital Copenhagen over the weekend.

The suspect was killed on Sunday morning, after police say he opened fire at officers in the inner-city district of Norrebro, where police had been keeping a property under surveillance from the early hours of Sunday morning.

Officials later told a press conference that video footage indicated that the same suspect was behind Saturday’s attack at a free speech event and a shooting at Copenhagen’s main synagogue early on Sunday morning.

“We believe the same man was behind both shootings, and we also believe that the perpetrator who was shot by the police action force at Norrebro station is the person behind the two attacks,” Torben Moelgaard Jensen of the Copenhagen police told a briefing on Sunday morning.

The identity of the suspected attacker has not yet been officially confirmed.

Jensen said police would continue to maintain a strong presence in the city.

On Sunday afternoon armed police raided an internet cafe in Copenhagen, arresting at least four people in an ongoing investigation.

Police say the main suspect in the dual shootings was known to security services.

The weekend's first attack came on Saturday during a debate about the limits of free speech at the Krudttonden cultural centre in central Copenhagen.

The event was hosted by controversial Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who has previously had a $100,000 bounty placed on his head by al-Qaeda in Iraq after publishing a series of comics depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a dog.

On Saturday one of the speakers at the debate was interrupted when the gunman fired a hail of bullets.

An audience member, a 55-year-old man, was killed, and three police officers were wounded.

The shots were fired from outside, and images from the scene show the café window riddled with bullet-holes.

After the shooting the gunman escaped by car – police later found a black Volkswagen Polo abandoned not far from the scene of the crime.

Cartoonist Lars Vilks was unhurt in the attack, which he believed targeted him.

“I’m not shaken at all by this incident,” he told the Associated Press. “Not in the least.”

Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt described the attack as a “politically motivated” act of terror.

Police launched a huge manhunt after of the attack, telling Copenhagen residents that the city centre was unsafe.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, a man was killed outside the city’s main synagogue, and two police officers were injured.

The attacker fled after shooting a man in the head and wounding the two officers with shots to the arms and legs.

The dead man, 37-year-old Dan Uzan, had been working as a security guard outside the place of worship, while a Bar Mitzvah, the traditional Jewish coming-of-age celebration, took place inside.

Denmark's Chief Rabbi Jair Melchior paid tribute to Uzan, who he said was "irreplaceable".

"He was a person who was always willing to help. An amazing, amazing guy."

In the wake of the shootings, condemnations have poured in from world leaders.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron called the shootings an "appalling attack on free speech."

"Denmark and Britain are both successful multi-ethnic, multi-faith democracies and we must never allow those values to be damaged by acts of violence like this," he said in a statement.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott drew comparisons to last month's mass shootings in Paris, the first of which targeted the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

"As with the Charlie Hebdo atrocity in Paris, the Copenhagen attack is an affront to one of our most fundamental values – freedom of speech. 

"We stand with the people and government of Denmark in confronting this cynical attempt to undermine that fundamental right."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for "massive immigration" to Israel by European Jews, in a move described as "disappointing" by Denmark's Chief Rabbi.

"Terror is not a reason to move to Israel," Melchior said on Sunday.

In a statement issued on Sunday afternoon, Saudi Arabia decried the attacks in Copenhagen, also highlighting the murder last week of three Muslim students in the US.

""Saudi Arabia has followed with deep sorrow the terrorist, criminal and ugly acts that took place recently in the Danish capital Copenhagen and the US state of North Carolina," authorities said in an official statement via the Saudi Press Agency.

The kingdom called for "the need to respect religions" and to avoid "incitement against Muslims".