Copenhagen Investigation: Two Arrests Made; U.S. Condemns Terror Attacks In Copenhagen; Plan To Commit Mass Shooting In Nova Scotia Foiled, Police Say
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Happening right now in the NEWSROOM, brand-new details on the terror attacks in Denmark, the FBI now helping to trace the gunman's whereabouts leading up to the attack and why the FBI compares it to the Paris terrorist attacks. And a CNN exclusive, I talked to Swedish artist, Lars Vilks, who survived the Copenhagen attack. He describes what he saw and experienced when the gunman opened fire. And right here in the U.S., a reporter is holding there, the wind and snow, and now another part of the country, that's again hit hard with another winter blast. Millions of people in Mother Nature's path. Hello again and thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Let's get right to our developing news, residents in Copenhagen, Denmark holding a candlelight vigil today outside the synagogue where one of two shootings took place yesterday. Now the FBI is joining in the investigation. A U.S. official is telling CNN that's because the attacks are very similar to the Paris killings. Earlier today Danish police made two arrests and killed the suspected gunman in yesterday's terror attacks. They tracked him down with surveillance video. The alleged gunman later died in a shootout with police. Hours later, police arrested two suspects at an internet cafe not far from that shootout. We are waiting to find out their connection, their possible connection with this case. All told, two people died, five police officers were shots at two separate locations and injured. The first was at a free speech forum and the second shooting taking place ten hours later at a synagogue. We now know that one of the victims was a 55-year-old film director by the name of Finn Noergaard. Denmark's prime minister spoke with CNN about the shootings in an exclusive interview.</s>HELLE THORNING-SCHMIDT, DANISH PRIME MINISTER: As soon as the first attack happened, we heightened our presence by the synagogue, this is a standard procedure. That's one of the reasons it didn't turn into something much worse than we saw. It doesn't change the fact that we have had two civilians that were just doing what they do. One was volunteering in a Jewish community and the other one was going to a debating seminar. Completely normal activities that we normally appreciate in a democracy, and that is why we are so saddened that they were no longer here today.</s>WHITFIELD: Let's go to Copenhagen. Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, is there tracking developments. So Nic, what more are police saying about whether the alleged gunman, who was killed is in any way connected to the two people arrested today?</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The police aren't making that direct connection, although, the raid and the operation at the internet cafe took place about half a mile from where I am, which is where that suspect gunman was killed by the police in the early hours of the morning. So certainly a lot of proximity there, but police are not saying what the connection is. They are however giving us some details about the young suspect gunman. They say that he was 22 years old. That he was born in Denmark. That he had a criminal record, some of it for illegally holding weapons that he was violent, and that he also had been in criminal gangs in the past. They also say on top of that, though, that he may have been inspired by the attacks in Paris, the cartoonist, and the kosher supermarket, and they say may have been inspired by radical Islamist groups like ISIS. So the picture they are painting is a young violent man with connections to gangs in the past, armed, but also it appears to some degree radicalized as well -- Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: But not believed to be connected to any kind of network or you know, radical group?</s>ROBERTSON: You know, that's what the police are looking at right now and that's really one of their biggest concerns and their top priorities. There is still heightened security in Copenhagen. The police are worried that he may have associates through groups like ISIS or other jihadist groups. They're concerned as well there may be sort of copycat type of attacks. So at the moment, it does appear as if the police are trying to gather as much information as they can about him, cell phones, computers, certainly they found a weapon and some of the clothing as well. So all of that is going to paint that detailed picture that the police needed to give themselves a level of comfort that there is not -- a follow-on attack is likely to come -- Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Nic Robertson, thank you so much in Copenhagen there. Let's bring in former CIA military analyst, Tara Maller, and CNN terrorism analyst, Paul Cruickshank. Good to see both of you. Tara, you first, as the FBI is now involved in this investigation, already some officials saying they see real parallels between the attack taking place there in Denmark and the attacks that took place in Paris. What kind of similarities are you seeing?</s>TARA MALLER, FORMER CIA MILITARY ANALYST: On the surface there are a lot of similarities, but there are also some differences. I mean, the type of the attack, the fact that at first glance it seems like this individual may not be operating with real strong leadership or direction for the particular attack. However, there are also some key differences. There haven't been any claims from groups about their involvement. There hasn't been any evidence at least in the press in terms of the ties to this individual, in terms of travel overseas to either Syria or Iraq or ties to groups like ISIS. So in the Paris case, a lot of that information did trickle out pretty fast in terms of the individuals involved and their links back to visit overseas and individuals they had connected with. So I think there are some similarities on the surface in terms of the type of attack, who is being targeted, but there are also some differences. I think it will become clearer how similar these are as more information trickles out from the investigation.</s>WHITFIELD: So Paul, ISIS and groups like al Qaeda, they kind of get what they want even if there's no direct association because we've already heard from officials that they believe this alleged gunman was inspired by radicalists, and maybe even inspired by the attack in Paris.</s>PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, that's right, inspired by that attack on "Charlie Hebdo" in Paris and also that attack on the Jewish supermarket in Paris. We saw in Copenhagen both cartoonists, but also a Jewish center again being targeted, so very strong similarities to Paris. This may well by a copycat attack. My understanding is that investigators are looking at the lone wolf angle right now. For the moment they don't think that he actually traveled to somewhere like Syria and Iraq to get training. They think he's more of the lone wolf variety at this point. Obviously, the investigation is in its early stages, but they'll be looking to see what kind of contacts he had in the extremist scene in Copenhagen and Denmark -- Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: So I imagine, Tara, this makes it a lot more challenging for counterterrorism, law enforcement, to try to prevent if you have the case of lone wolfs. They're not necessarily corresponding with anybody, coordinating, but perhaps their behavior is strange leading up to the event like, you know, accumulating arms to the degree this alleged gunman may have done. I mean, help us kind of understand what law enforcement or counterterrorism experts are up against when they don't necessarily have a trail in which to follow, like you do if someone is associated with a terror group or network?</s>MALLER: Sure. Obviously a lone wolf doesn't have the capacity to carry out or inflict as much damage as a highly orchestrated, highly advanced attack technological, you know, attack that employs lots of money and resources. Having said that, the more resources, the more individuals involve, the more ties back to an organization, and the more nodes of interception through intelligence, through law enforcement to be caught because they're being monitored in various ways. When you have a lone wolf or in this case if it was an individual inspired and acting alone based on rhetoric coming from overseas or simply just seeing the Paris attacks on their TV screen at home, it's a lot more difficult for law enforcement to see red flags. Obviously, he had a criminal history in terms of violence and I believe it recently came out today that he had been, I think, recently released from prison for other aggravated assaults and violence, but there are many individuals who have silent criminal histories and don't end up engaging or being inspired by ISIS terrorism attacks of these sorts. So it is a lot more different in these lone wolf situations for the signals intelligence and the human intelligence to be collected to thwart these types of attacks. It's horrific that one individual can do this, but it's also very, very difficult to thwart.</s>WHITFIELD: So Paul, how do you see law enforcement counterterrorism, you know, specialists navigating this kind of landscape?</s>CRUICKSHANK: Well, it's going to be very, very hard for the reasons that Tara has been outlining so detect these kinds of lone wolf attacks. So you can monitor social media, web sites, see if extremists are kind of there. If there's warning signs that they're moving toward belief towards action, but it's very, very hard in these lone wolf types of situations. Often you can try intelligence from family members or friends that can be tip-offs. But they found it very hard to detect these kinds of plots, even when individuals have been on the radar screen. I mean, we saw in Canada and other plots in Europe even when they're on the radar screen, they're able to move forward and launched attacks. The reason is you just can't monitor all these people 24/7. There are thousands and thousands of extremists right throughout the European Union. There is really an unprecedented threat both from this lone wolf style threat, but also people who have gone to Syria and Iraq to link up with jihadi groups, about 750 believed to be back in Europe right now -- Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: Yes, pretty extraordinary. All right, Paul Cruickshank, thank you so much, and Tara Maller, I appreciate it.</s>MALLER: Thanks a lot.</s>WHITFIELD: And this breaking story very difficult to report. This about a new wave of terror committed by ISIS, a new video has been released by the group, and in it, they're claiming to have beheaded a large group of Christian men in Libya. CNN's Ian Lee is joining us now from Cairo. We understand this involves Coptic Christians there in Egypt, but this assault -- this beheading taking place in Libya?</s>IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fredricka. Coptic Christians -- Egyptians here tend to go to Libya to find work there. These 21 men were kidnapped by ISIS in Libya. This new video, 5- minute video shows what we can count at least 13 men being beheaded there. They were lined up on the beach there, a lone militant speaking in English the message at the beginning of that video reads a message signed with blood to the nation of the cross. The militants speaking in English, referencing the Egyptian Coptic Christians, ISIS militants that are in Sinai and also referencing Rome as well. This is a message that isn't just for the Egyptians. This is a message for Europe, which is right on Libya's doorstep. It's also a message for the ISIS militants in Sinai. Egypt is sandwiched between what you have in the east and what you have in the west by ISIS. These militants, really this message, are showing that ISIS has a firm presence now in Libya. We had the attack at the hotel in Tripoli, at the Corinthian Hotel recently, and now this. A very similar attack to what we -- similar video of what we've seen coming out of Iraq and Syria, and it seems like there has been at least some coordination. The video is very similar -- Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: Horribly sad. All right, Ian Lee, thank you so much from Cairo. We'll be right back.