New terror scare in Danish capital

Police briefly evacuated the area Tuesday morning around a Copenhagen cafe after a suspicious envelope sparked concerns, Danish media reported. The envelope was discovered at the same business where a gunman shot one person to death during a forum on free speech over the weekend.

That gunman was himself killed by police after opening fire at the cafe and a synagogue in the Danish capital on Saturday, where he killed Jewish a security guard.

Police said Monday they had arrested two other men, suspected of helping the gunman in some way, but that they did not believe any of the men were part of a larger terror cell in Denmark.

It wasn't immediately clear what led police to believe the envelope discovered Tuesday represented a threat, but local media cited law enforcement sources as saying it appeared to be linked to the Saturday shootings in some way. Police confirmed shortly after the alert was raised that no explosives had been found, and the scare seemed to have passed as pedestrians began walking and cycling past the cafe again.

Meanwhile, it emerged that the slain gunman in the Saturday attacks was released from jail just two weeks ago and might have become radicalized there last summer, a source close to the Danish terror investigation told The Associated Press.

Two Danish sources close to the investigation confirmed to the AP that the slain gunman was named Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, a name that Danish media sources have been using since shortly after he was slain in a shootout with police. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because Copenhagen police have not officially named the gunman, who they said was a 22-year-old Dane.

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 on Monday and have been seeking 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.

CBS News correspondent Clarissa Ward says El-Hussein, the son of Palestinian refugees and a former gang member, had a long rap sheet for weapons violations and violence.

In November 2013, police distributed photos of El-Hussein because he was wanted for a stabbing on a subway train in Copenhagen. At the time, police said he stabbed a 19-year-old man in his left thigh with a large knife.

A Danish reporter who covered his court appearance said El-Hussein did not appear religious, at least not at the time, describing him instead as simply, "a callous, hardened criminal. And nothing more spectacular about him."

It wasn't immediately clear whether he was in pre-trial detention for that crime.

One source told the AP that El-Hussein had been in pre-trial detention for a long time but was released two weeks ago. He also said the corrections authority had alerted Danish security service PET last year after they noticed worrisome changes in El-Hussein's behavior.

He wouldn't give specifics but said such alerts are issued when inmates change their attitude or behavior in way that "sets off alarm bells."

PET spokeswoman Lotte Holmstrup declined to comment on the report, saying "we are working on finding out what has happened."

PET director Jens Madsen on Sunday confirmed that the gunman was known to the agency before the weekend attacks.

The weekend attacks in Copenhagen killed two people and wounded five police officers.

Authorities had already described El-Hussein as having 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. The Denmark shooting has stirred fears across the European continent about extremist attacks.

Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt told reporters Monday that El-Hussein's choice of targets suggests the attacks were acts of terrorism.

"We have no indication at this stage that he was part of a cell," she said. "But we will of course in the coming time evaluate our fight against radicalization. We are already doing a lot."

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.