Police arrest fifth man over Copenhagen shooting attacks

COPENHAGEN - Police have arrested a fifth man in connection with February shooting attacks at a free speech event and a synagogue that killed two people, police said on Friday.

Local media said the 30-year-old and another 25-year-old man, who was detained on Thursday, were suspected of hiding the automatic M95 rifle used by shooter Omar El-Hussein.

El-Hussein went on a rampage in the Danish capital on Feb. 14, killing two and wounding five others before police tracked him down hours later and shot him dead.

Police said at the time they did not think he was part of a radical Islamic cell. But they arrested two people the following day, Feb. 15, and a third man later that month. This week, they raided 13 addresses across Copenhagen and surrounding areas and arrested the two additional suspects.

Hussein, the son of Palestinian immigrants, killed a filmmaker outside a cafe holding an event attended by Lars Vilk, a cartoonist who had received death threats after portraying the head of Prophet Mohammad on a dog.

Hussein left the scene in a taxi and killed a guard outside the synagogue around nine hours later.

Police have said he used an M95 rifle in the attack. The gun is commonly used by the Danish home guard, a voluntary reservist unit under the Defence Ministry. Its members had been allowed to store their weapons at home, a provision now suspended.

Preliminary hearings of those arrested have been made behind closed doors with the suspects' names not released because the investigation is ongoing. Police made no further comment.