Copenhagen Gunman Likely Not Part of Wider Cell, Danish PM Says
"We have no indication at this stage that he was part of a cell," she said. "But we will of course in the coming time evaluate our fight against radicalization. We are already doing a lot."
However, Thorning-Schmidt added, according to The Associated Press, the attacks appeared to be terrorism based upon the targets -- a free-speech event and a Jewish synagogue. One person died in each shooting attack and others were wounded.
"This is not a conflict between Islam and the West," Thorning-Schmidt said. "This is a conflict between the core values of our society and violent extremists."Danish police on Sunday arrested two men suspected of helping the person blamed for the attacks, police said in a statement.
The two men were arraigned today and ordered jailed at a custody hearing held behind closed doors. The defense attorney for one of the two suspects, Michael Juul Eriksen, told public broadcaster DR that the two were accused of giving the gunman shelter and getting rid of a weapon.
Police said they were searching for people who witnessed the first shooting, which occurred Saturday at a cultural center hosting a seminar on free speech attended by an artist who had depicted the Prophet Muhammad. Documentary filmmaker Finn Noergaard, 55, was killed.
Shots were later fired near a synagogue, with a civilian security guard killed, police said.
Hours later, a gunman -- believed by police to be the same man who launched the earlier attacks -- was killed in a gun battle with a SWAT team.Police said the slain gunman was a 22-year-old with a history of violence who may have been inspired by Islamic terrorists -- and possibly by the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris. They have not yet released his name.
Police added that the suspected gunman went to an Internet café between the two attacks, though they did not divulge what he did during his time there.
A survivor of Saturday’s attack at the Copenhagen café credited security guards with helping to contain the situation.
When the gunfire started, Helle Merete Brix said, the Swedish state security guards and Danish intelligence officers there "reacted very quickly."
"They were in the lobby and, if they hadn't shot back, he could have shot his way through and something like Charlie Hebdo could have happened," she said, referring to the attack on the office of the satirical Paris newspaper last month in which 12 people were killed.