Shots Fired at Copenhagen Free Speech Event: Reports

Shots rang out Saturday afternoon at a cafe in Copenhagen, Denmark, killing one person and wounding three police officers during a freedom of speech event hosted by controversial Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, police said. As authorities continued searching for the lone shooter, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt put the entire nation on high alert and condemned the violence as a "terrorist attack."

"We feel certain now that it was a politically motivated attack, and thereby it was a terrorist attack," she told reporters close to the site of the shooting. An event organizer said that Vilks was present at the conference, but was not injured.

The suspect fled after gunfire erupted around 4 p.m. local time (10 a.m. ET) at Krudttoenden cafe in the Osterbro district, Copenhagen police said in a statement. A surveillance photo shows the suspect wearing dark clothes and a scarf. Police said initial interviews indicate only one person fired the shots, and had left the scene in a dark-colored Volkswagen Polo that had been carjacked. The car was later found.

The TV2 channel said there were some 30 bullet holes in the window of the cafe and at least two people were taken away on stretchers. Police told NBC News that one person was killed but it was unclear whether the victim, described as a civilian, died at the scene.

Inna Shevchenko, the leader of Ukrainian feminist group FEMEN, tweeted that she was participating in a panel discussion at the cafe when the shooting occurred. "I didn't see anything. I heard about 20 shots while speaking and then people started to run," she wrote.

Vilks has faced numerous death threats for caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad in 2007. A Pennsylvania woman last year got a 10-year prison term for a plot to kill Vilks. In 2010, two brothers tried to burn down his house in southern Sweden and were imprisoned for attempted arson.

The event that the 68-year-old artist was hosting Saturday was called "Arts, Blasphemy and Freedom of Expression," according to his website. When the artist is in Denmark, he receives police protection.

Swedish artist Lars Vilks talks during an interview with the Associated Press in Stockholm, Sweden, on March 10, 2010.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

First published February 14 2015, 8:10 AM

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Shots Fired at Copenhagen Free Speech Event: Reports