Police: 1 dead in shooting at Copenhagen free speech event

COPENHAGEN, Denmark Gunmen fired on a cafe in Copenhagen as it hosted a free speech event Saturday, killing one man in a likely terror attack, Danish authorities said. The event was organized by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has faced numerous threats after caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad.

Danish police said the gunmen shot through the windows of the Krudttoenden cafe, which the TV2 news channel said were riddled with some 30 bullet holes. Police spokesman Henrik Blandebjerg said three police at the event were also shot and wounded.

Denmark's security service, PET, said the circumstances surrounding the shooting "indicate that we are talking about a terror attack."

The shooting came a month after Islamic militants attacked another media outlet that had printed Muhammad cartoons, the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in Paris, killing 12 people.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting, which took place shortly before 4 p.m. (1500 GMT, 10 a.m. EST).

Helle Merete Brix, one of the event's organizers, told The Associated Press that Vilks was at the free speech event but was not hit.

"I saw a masked man running past," Brix said. "I clearly consider this as an attack on Lars Vilks."

Danish police, in a statement, said they were looking for two perpetrators in dark clothing who drove away in a dark Volkswagen Polo that had been carjacked. The car was later found.

"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 the TV2 channel.

Brix said she was ushered away with Vilks by one of the Danish police guards that he gets whenever he is in Denmark.

Read the original post:

Police: 1 dead in shooting at Copenhagen free speech event