Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on March 10, 2015

One person was killed, and two others injured, in a shooting near a Copenhagen synagogue early Sunday, just hours after a gunman with an automatic rifle opened fire on a cafe hosting a free speech event organized by a controversial Swedish artist who has faced threats for his caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

Police spokesman Allan Wadsworth-Hansen says it's still not clear whether that shooting is linked to an earlier shooting that killed one person and wounded three police officers in a suspected terror attack on a free speech event.

Wadsworth-Hansen says two police officers were wounded in their arms and legs in the shooting near the synagogue, while a civilian man was killed. The suspect fled on foot.

Police said the suspect in the earlier shooting at the Krudttoenden cafe drove away in a dark Volkswagen Polo after he sprayed the cafe with some 30 bullets. A 40-year-old Danish man attending the event was killed and three police officers were slightly wounded. Denmark's security service declared the shooting an apparent terror attack.

Lars Vilks, a Swedish artist who has faced numerous death threats for caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad, was one of the main speakers at Saturday's panel discussion, titled "Art, blasphemy and freedom of expression." He was whisked away by his bodyguards unharmed as the shooting began.

Vilks, 68, later told The Associated Press he believed he was the intended target of the shooting.

"What other motive could there be? It's possible it was inspired by Charlie Hebdo," he said, referring to the Jan. 7 attack by Islamic extremists on the French newspaper in Paris. He spoke from an undisclosed location for his own security.

"At first there was panic. People crawled down under tables," Vilks said. "My bodyguards quickly pulled me away."

The cultural center had a lecture hall as well as a cafe. Vilks said no one in the hall was wounded.

The PET agency said in a statement the circumstances surrounding the shooting "indicate that we are talking about a terror attack."

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TERROR IN DENMARK 3 shot near Copenhagen synagogue, hours after deadly attack on cafe

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