Prison officials had warned about Copenhagen shooter
COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Despite a warning from prison authorities that the gunman behind a weekend shooting rampage in Copenhagen was at risk of being radicalized in jail, Danish intelligence officials insisted Tuesday they had no reason to believe he was plotting attacks after his release.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Despite a warning from prison authorities that the gunman behind a weekend shooting rampage in Copenhagen was at risk of being radicalized in jail, Danish intelligence officials insisted Tuesday they had no reason to believe he was plotting attacks after his release.
Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein was killed in a shootout with a SWAT team early Sunday after attacks on a free-speech event and a synagogue that killed two people and wounded five.
The Danish Security and Intelligence Service, known by its Danish acronym PET, acknowledged that the 22-year-old gunman was flagged in September under a program meant to alert PET to "inmates who are at risk of radicalization."
Hussein, a Denmark native with Palestinian parents, was in pretrial detention at the time for seriously wounding a train passenger in a knife attack, court documents show.
What prompted prison authorities to sound the alarm is unclear, but PET said that the information gave the agency "no reason to believe that the now deceased 22-year-old alleged perpetrator was planning attacks."
PET also said it didn't have any intelligence before the gunman's shootings at a cultural center and synagogue that an attack was imminent. PET chief Jens Madsen declined to elaborate when reached by phone Tuesday.
"We are in the middle of an investigation with many aspects, many things to look into, there are lots of unanswered questions right now," Madsen said.
A Danish documentary filmmaker and a Jewish security guard died and five police officers were wounded in the shootings before the gunman was killed.
Two sources close to the case identified the gunman as Hussein. They spoke on condition of anonymity because his identity hasn't been released by police. One said Hussein was released from jail about two weeks before the attacks after serving time for the train stabbing.
Court documents from that case describe Hussein as a repeat offender with a record of violence and weapons violations. During previous stints in prison, Hussein was deemed at risk of falling ever deeper into a life crime. He was offered "support and guidance regarding personal and social circumstances," but declined.
However, there was no mention of any radical views.
"Nothing like that came up during the trial," said his defense lawyer in the case, Rolf Lindegaard Gregersen.
