COPENHAGEN // An unidentified gunman killed at least one person and wounded three police officers on Saturday after opening fire on a cafe in Copenhagen hosting a debate on free speech.
France’s ambassador to Denmark Francois Zimeray, who was attending the debate, was not hurt in the shooting that the Danish prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, described as “a terrorist attack”.
“Denmark has today been hit by a cynical act of violence,” she said.
“Everything leads us to believe that the shooting was a political attack and therefore a terrorist act.”
Police said the victim was a 40-year-old man.
Mr Zimeray said the attackers were seeking to replicate the January 7 assault by militants in Paris on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo that killed 12 people.
Controversial Swedish artist Lars Vilks, the author of Prophet Mohammed cartoons published in 2007 that sparked worldwide protests, was at the debate, reported Danish Ritzau news agency. Mr Vilks has been under police protection since his cartoons were published in 2007.
Danish police said they were hunting one suspect after finding the abandoned getaway car, a Vokswagen Polo. It had previously been thought that there were two gunmen.
A released photo of the suspect shows a man in a dark anorak and a maroon balaclava carrying a black bag.
“Intuitively I would say there were at least 50 gunshots, and the police here are saying 200,” Mr Zimeray said from inside the venue.
“Bullets went through the doors and everyone threw themselves to the floor. We managed to flee the room, and now we’re staying inside because it’s still dangerous. The attackers haven’t been caught and they could very well still be in the neighbourhood.”
A Femen activist, Inna Shevshenko, said on Twitter that there were several dozen people in the room.
French foreign minister Laurent Fabius condemned the attack, saying that France “remains by the side of the Danish authorties and people in the fight against terrorism”.
* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press