Police in Copenhagen on Sunday morning shot and killed a man who is believed to be responsible for two attacks - one on a Swedish cartoonist who depicted the prophet Muhammad and another in front of a synagogue.
After a 12-hour killing spree - which left two dead and five police officers wounded - the gunman was taken down by police just before dawn on Sunday, according to The Washington Post.
Fifty-five-year-old documentary filmmaker Finn Noergaard was killed during the gunman's first attack at a speech by Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks. Vilks, who was unharmed, was speaking at the café about free speech in today's age of terrorism. Vilks has had a target on his back for his drawings of the prophet Muhammad, including a depiction of the prophet with the body of a dog, according to The Washington Post.
A volunteer guard, 37-year-old Dan Uzan, was shot and killed by the attacker in front of the synagogue. There was a bat mitzvah in the building next to the synagogue, so the extra security might have prevented the shooting from turning into a bloodbath.
The parallels to the Paris attacks are eerie, involving a café, a cartoonist and a "homegrown terrorist," but according to The Washington Post, no allegiances between the 22-year-old gunman and extremist religious groups are readily apparent.
The gunman's identity has not been released by the police, but according to The Washington Post, Danish media has outed him as recently released convict Omar Abdel Hamid el-Hussein.
"The culprit that was shot by the police task force is the person behind both of these assassinations," said Torben Molgaard Jensen, the chief police inspector, according to The Washington Post.
Authorities have not ruled out the possibility of more attacks, in Denmark or neighboring countries, according to The Washington Post. In Germany, a carnival in Braunschweig was cancelled at the last minute due to a "concrete threat of an Islamist attack" from "reliable state security sources."
"I'm furious," said retiree Rita Sorensan, according to The Washington Post. "There are many, many people who don't respect the values of Denmark. And I don't think it stops here. I'm not naïve. I'm expecting more attacks."
