Deadly shooting at Copenhagen free speech event

By CBS News / Associated Press Saturday February 14, 2015 12:56 PM

COPENHAGEN, Denmark --A shooting left at least one man dead Saturday at a cafe in Copenhagen that was hosting a freedom of speech event organized by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has faced numerous threats for caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad.

In a statement, Danish police said the victim was a 40-year-old man.

The police said they are looking for the perpetrators who drove away in a dark Volkswagen Polo after the shooting shortly before 4 p.m. (10 a.m. EST) at the Krudttoenden cafe.

Some 30 bullet holes ripped through the window of the cafe and there were conflicting reports over the number of people injured.

At least two people were taken away on stretchers, including a uniformed police officer, the TV2 channel said Saturday. The Danish Ritzau news agency reported three police officers were injured.

"I heard someone firing with an automatic weapons and someone shouting. Police returned the fire and I hid behind the bar. I felt surreal, like in a movie," Niels Ivar Larsen, one of the speakers at the event, told TV2 channel.

HelleMereteBrix, one of the event's organizers, told The Associated Press that Vilks was at the meeting but not injured.

"I saw a masked man running past," she said. "A couple of police officers were injured."

"I clearly consider this as an attack on Lars Vilks," she added, saying she was ushered away with Vilks by one of the Danish police guards that he gets whenever he is in Denmark.

Originally posted here:

Deadly shooting at Copenhagen free speech event