Copenhagen Shootings Leave 2 Dead, 5 Wounded

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A shooting at a free speech event which featured an artist who had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad and another shooting hours later outside a synagogue left two people dead and five police officers wounded in Copenhagen, an incidence that stird fears that another terror spree was underway in a European capital a month after 17 people were killed in Paris attacks. AP reports:

Police couldn’t say whether the shootings at a cultural center Saturday afternoon and in front of the synagogue early Sunday were connected, but didn’t rule it out. In both shootings, the gunman got away.

“We are looking for two perpetrators,” police spokesman Allan Wadsworth-Hansen told reporters.

The first shooting happened shortly before 4 p.m. Saturday. Danish police said the gunman used an automatic weapon to shoot through the windows of the Krudttoenden cultural center during a panel discussion on freedom of expression following the Paris attacks. A 55-year-old man attending the event was killed, while three police officers were wounded. Two belonged to the Danish security service PET, which said the circumstances surrounding the shooting “indicate that we are talking about a terror attack.”

The gunman then fled in a carjacked Volkswagen Polo that was found later a few kilometers (miles) away, police said.