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September 13th, 2012

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A 48-year-old man that was shot and killed in Vesterbro on Wednesday night was a suspect in last year’s murder of a 24-year-old outside a mosque in the same district.

Tamur Ashgar was shot outside a mosque on Amerikavej in Vesterbro in Copenhagen in August 2011. Ashgar and Wednesday night's victim were both members of Copenhagen’s Pakistani community, leading to speculation that the Wednesday murder was a revenge act.

Copenhagen Police confirmed the link between the two men and said they would combine the two investigations.

“We haven’t settled on a motive,” deputy police inspector Ove Bundgaard Larsen told metroXpress newspaper. "We are investigating widely but the murder on Amerikavej is something we are paying particular attention to.”

Police say that the deceased was no longer under suspicion of last year’s murder and that he was known to be involved in the drug trade. Another man was arrested and released for last year's murder, while a third man is in custody after being extradited from Sweden.

According to witnesses, the 48-year-old was shot in the head at close quarters on Matthæusgade in Vesterbro on Wednesday shortly after closing his kiosk, Engkiosken, on Enghavevej.

The deceased crossed the street when he was approached by a man. After a short exchange, the 48-year-old continued down Matthæusgade alone. The man who initially approached him followed and after 100 meters caught up with him again and shot him in the head.

The assailant is described as 185 centimetres, 25-30 years old and with the physique of a bodybuilder. He wore dark trousers and a dark hooded sweater pulled over his head.

Witnesses have told the police that they saw a man matching the assailant’s description sitting on a bench on a square near the kiosk before the attack. He sat with another man with dark skin, 170 centimetres tall and wearing dark clothes.