Atentado terrorista en Dinamarca

One dead after shooting at Copenhagen cafe attended by cartoonist who drew the Prophet Mohammad as a dog

Christina Sterbenz, Shane Ferro and Natasha Bertrand

Feb. 14, 2015, 11:01 AM
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copenhagen shootingKenneth Meyer/APAn armed security officer runs down a street after the incident.

Shots were fired Saturday during a meeting about free speech at a cafe in Copenhagen killing one civilian and wounding three police, Danish media is reporting.

The space, Krudttoenden cafe, was hosting an event titled "Art, blasphemy and freedom of expression," organized by controversial Swedish artist Lars Vilks, according to the Associated Press. He was not hit.

The French ambassador to Denmark was apparently at the event as well and tweeted that he survived the situation.

Still alive in the room
— Frankrigs ambassadør (@francedk) February 14, 2015

Magnus Bjerg, a reporter with Danish station TV2, one of the outlets reporting the shooting, tweeted a picture of what appears to be a glass window riddled with bullets.

Bedre foto af skudhullerne i glasdørene til "Krudttønden", hvor tre betjente blev ramt af skud pic.twitter.com/vVGLEchOW7
— Magnus Bjerg (@MagnusBjerg) February 14, 2015

"I heard someone firing with an automatic weapons and someone shouting," Niels Ivar Larsen, one of the speakers at the event, told the AP. "Police returned the fire and I hid behind the bar. I felt surreal, like in a movie."

Copenhagen police confirmed a 40-year-old civilian is dead, and three police officers were wounded.

Originally, police thought two male assailants were at large, but witness interviews since have suggested there was only one gunman, according to Reuters. A getaway car, a black Volkswagen Polo, has been found, TV2 is reporting, and police have issued a photo of the alleged shooter.

Police said the shooting was specifically aimed at Vilks, and Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt has officially labeled it a terrorist attack.

"We feel certain now that it was a politically motivated attack, and thereby it was a terrorist attack, in which one civilian was killed and three policemen were wounded," she told reporters, according to Reuters. "We are on high alert all over the country."

Screen Shot 2015 02 14 at 12.18.42 PMsongdongnighThe cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed drawn by Vilks in 2007.

The artist stirred controversy when he drew the Prophet Mohammad as a dog (shown right). Sweden had recently tightened security around him after 17 people were killed as a result of the terrorist attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

After a Swedish magazine published Vilks' drawing in 2007, al-Qaeda in Iraq put a $100,000 bounty on his head, forcing Vilks to go into hiding, the Associated Press reported.

Vilks' cartoons also motivated, in part, the first suicide bombing in Sweden's history in 2010. That same year, seven Muslims were arrested in Ireland over an alleged plot to assassinate him.

Vilks was also assaulted in 2010 while giving a lecture at Uppsala University. He showed the 250 attendees a "provocative film with sexual content" when one man ran up and punched him repeatedly.

This video shows the aftermath of the attacks on Vilks inside the lecture hall:

While many Muslims had been protesting peacefully outside of the university, police had to hold off angry demonstrators shouting "God is great!" in Arabic with pepper spray as Vilks was escorted out of the lecture hall.

Danish police: Several injured after shooting at Copenhagen synagogue

Amanda Macias and Reuters

Feb. 14, 2015, 7:43 PM
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copenhagenREUTERS/Mathias OEgendal/Scanpix Denmark Police presence is seen at the site of a shooting in Copenhagen February 14, 2015.

A gunman opened fire at a Copenhagen synagogue hours after a shooting at a free-speech event in the city on Saturday. Police later killed a man believed to have carried out both attacks, which authorities say were likely inspired by Islamic radicalism.

map skitchGoogle Maps/Amanda Macias/Business InsiderA map of two shootings in Copenhagen.

At the synagogue, one person was shot in the head and later died while two police officers were shot in the arms and legs, the Associated Press reports.

Earlier on Saturday, a civilian was killed and three police wounded when a masked gunman shot at the windows of the Krudttoenden cafe in a Copenhagen.

The venue was holding a free speech event attended by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who stirred controversy in 2007 with his drawings depicting the Prophet Mohammad as a dog.

The gunman used an automatic weapon to shoot through the windows of the Krudttoenden cultural center, according to police, and fled in a dark Volkswagen Polo that was later found empty on the outskirts of Copenhagen.

copenhagenREUTERS/Mathias Oegendal/Scanpix Denmark Forensic investigators are seen at the site of a shooting in Copenhagen February 14, 2015.

Media reports and witnesses on Twitter described the attack, saying between 20 and 40 shots were fired from an automatic weapon. Television footage showed windows of the arts center and cafe riddled with bullet holes.

French ambassador to Denmark Francois Zimeray, who also attended the event, compared the shooting to last months attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris by Islamist militants.

"I'm still a bit stunned. I was inside, I had just sat down after my speech and then I heard shots," Zimeray told French news channel TF1.

Danish officials have described the shooting as an act of terrorism and an assassination attempt, ABC News reports.

"We feel certain now that it was a politically motivated attack, and thereby it was a terrorist attack," Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt told journalists close to the site of the attack.

copenhagenREUTERS/Martin Sylvest/Scanpix DenmarkPolicemen are seen along a street in central Copenhagen, early February 15, 2015 following shootings at a synagogue in Krystalgade.

President Obama was informed of the attacks and released the following statement: "The United States condemns today’s deplorable shooting in Copenhagen. We offer our condolences to the loved ones of the deceased victim, and our thoughts are with those wounded in this attack. We have been in close contact with our Danish counterparts and stand ready to lend any assistance necessary to the investigation."

Officials released a security camera image of the alleged suspect wearing a dark coat and a red hat and scarf covering much of his face.

shooterCopenhagen PolicePolice in Copenhagen released a photo of a man believed to be the gunman who opened fire on a cafe in the Danish city, killing one man and injuring three police officers.

In January, 17 people were killed in France in three days of violence that began when two Islamist gunmen burst into the Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, opening fire in revenge for its publication of satirical images of Mohammad.

Vilks, who drew Mohammad as a dog in 2007, has received numerous death threats and has lived under the constant protection of the Swedish police since 2010. Two years ago, an American woman known as Jihad Jane was sentenced to 10 years in prison for plotting to kill him.

(Reuters reporting by Sabina Zawadzki and Ole Mikkelsen, Teis Jensen and Annabella Nielsen in Copenhagen, Niklas Pollard in Stockholm and Michel Rose in Paris)