2 Suspected Accomplices Of Denmark Gunman Jailed For 10 Days

Security officers patrol the perimeter outside a venue after shots were fired where an event titled "Art, blasphemy and the freedom of expression" was being held in Copenhagen, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015. Danish media s... Security officers patrol the perimeter outside a venue after shots were fired where an event titled "Art, blasphemy and the freedom of expression" was being held in Copenhagen, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015. Danish media say several shots have been fired at a cafe in Copenhagen where a meeting about freedom of speech was being held, organized by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has faced numerous threats for caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad in 2007. (AP Photo/Polfoto, Janus Engel) DENMARK OUT MORE LESS
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Two men suspected of helping the gunman behind the deadly attacks in Copenhagen were jailed for 10 days Monday as Danes mourned the victims of a shooting spree that authorities said may have been inspired by last month’s terror attacks in Paris.

They were accused of helping the gunman evade authorities and get rid of a weapon during the manhunt that ended early Sunday when the attacker was killed in a shootout with police, said Michael Juul Eriksen, the defense attorney for one of the two suspects.

Prosecutors had asked a judge to place them in four weeks of solitary confinement and the relatively short period of detention suggests the case against the men is “thin,” added Juul Eriksen’s assistant, Anders Rohde.

Rohde was speaking to reporters after a four-hour custody hearing held behind closed doors for the men, who were not named.

Two people were killed in the weekend attacks, including a Danish filmmaker attending a free speech event and a Jewish security guard shot in the head outside a synagogue in Copenhagen. Five police officers were wounded in the attacks. Police said Monday they are in good condition and are expected to be released from hospital this week.

Authorities have not identified the gunman, but have described him as a 22-year-old Dane with a history of violence and gang connections. Denmark’s security service said he may have been inspired by the terror attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris that killed 17 people.

Investigators on Monday released more information about the gunman’s movements between the attacks.

Police spokesman Joergen Skov said the gunman visited an Internet cafe late Saturday, about six-and-a-half hours after the first attack. Police raided the facility on Sunday and detained four people, including the two men arraigned on Monday, Skov said. The other two were released.

Investigators released new images of the suspect and asked witnesses who had seen him enter or leave the Internet cafe to contact police.

“We are of course interested in whether he was alone and whether he was carrying anything and in which direction he went,” Skov said.

Denmark’s red-and-white flag flew at half-staff from official buildings across the capital Monday. Mourners placed flowers and candles at the cultural center where documentary filmmaker Finn Noergaard, 55, was killed and at the synagogue where Dan Uzan, a 37-year-old security guard, was gunned down.

There was also a smaller mound of flowers on the street at the location where the gunman was slain.

The prime ministers of Denmark and Sweden were expected to join thousands of people at memorials in Copenhagen on Monday evening.

Denmark has been targeted by a series of foiled terror plots since the 2005 publication of 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in the newspaper Jyllands-Posten. The cartoons triggered riots in many Muslim countries and militant Islamists called for vengeance.

One of the participants in the free speech event targeted Saturday was Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who caricatured the prophet in 2007. Vilks, who was whisked away by his bodyguards and was unharmed, told The Associated Press he thought he was the intended target of that attack.

Other participants said they dropped to the floor, looking for places to hide as the shooting started. The gunman never entered the cultural center but sprayed it with bullets from outside in a gun battle with police.

World leaders, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, condemned the Copenhagen attacks.

French President Francois Hollande visited the Danish Embassy in Paris on Sunday and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo was in Copenhagen on Monday in a show of solidarity.

“The terrorist attacks have the same causes in Paris and Copenhagen,” Hidalgo said. “Our cities are symbols of democracy, Paris and Copenhagen. We are here and we are not afraid.”

___

AP journalist Philipp-Moritz Jenne contributed to this report.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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