2 Arrested for Allegedly Helping Denmark Shooter

Danish media names suspect as PM describes 'fight for freedom'
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 16, 2015 8:28 AM CST
2 Arrested for Allegedly Helping Denmark Shooter
People place flower tributes at the synagogue in Copenhagen, Denmark, Monday, Feb. 16, 2015.   (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

After the suspect in a pair of Copenhagen shootings was killed in a gunfight, two people have been arrested for allegedly helping him, the AP reports. They've been blamed for sheltering the suspect and disposing of a weapon, says a defense attorney for Michael Juul Eriksen, one of those arrested. Danish news has named the suspect as Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, the New York Times reports, but officials haven't confirmed his identity. Like the attackers in Paris, he seems to have made a sudden move from "street crime" to Islamic extremism, the Times notes. Denmark's security head, however, hasn't seen a direct link between the Danish suspect and those in Paris.

After the publication of cartoons featuring the Prophet Muhammad in 2005, many in Denmark were expecting a terrorist attack. "Unfortunately, it is difficult to claim surprise at the attacks in Copenhagen," a Danish newspaper said, calling such attacks "not a question of if, but when," the Times reports. "This is not a war between Islam and the West," noted Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt. She described the attacks as "a fight for freedom against a dark ideology." Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, is calling for Jews to return to Israel in the wake of the attacks. (More Denmark stories.)

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