Danish director killed in Copenhagen shooting

Danish director-producer Finn Nørgaard has been named as one of the victims of Saturday’s fatal shootings in Copenhagen.

Nørgaard, 55, was attending a debate on “Art, Blasphemy and Freedom of Speech” in the east of the city when a gunman interrupted the debate and fired dozens of shots.

Nørgaard was reportedly struck in the chest by a bullet.

The gunman, 22-year-old Omar El-Hussein, then travelled to the Copenhagen synagogue where he shot dead Dan Uzan, 37, who was on security duty outside the building.

The gunman fled by car but was traced by police to the city’s Norrebro district. He opened fire when confronted and was fatally shot by officers. Five police officers were wounded in the attacks.

Nørgaard was a film and media graduate from the University of Copenhagen who worked as a producer at Danish public broadcaster DR during the 1990s.

In 2001, he established his own production company, Filmselskabet.

He also directed and produced several documentaries. His debut was Hooked (1985), which he co-wrote with Vibeke Vogel.

Nørgaard produced Ole Christian Madsen and Lars K Andersen’s 1988 film about Danish beat poet Eik Skaløe and his rock group, Steppenwolves (Kun for forrykte – Eik Skaløe og Steppeulvene).

Most recently he directed two documentaries for DR, Bossen og bøllerne (2010) and Det er for børn (2012).

“We are sad to learn that our tenant and neighbor in The Film House, director and producer Finn Nørgaard was killed during the assassination at Krudttønden,” said managing director Henrik Bo Nielsen, of the Danish Film Institute.

“It is essential that directors and other artists actively participate in the public debate, not just with their works, but also as voices in the debates that concern us all. It fills us with shock and anger that the consequence of attending a peaceful and democratic discussion of art and the freedom of speech could be this ultimate.”

His friend Malene Trock told Berlinske daily he was “open-minded” and “cosmopolitan”. Producer Torben Larsen is quoted by the AP news agency as saying Mr Noergaard was “a very generous and warm person”.