A freedom of speech event organized by Swedish artist Lars Vilks – the subject of violent threats against his life for drawing a cartoon of a dog-headed Mohammad – was disrupted by more than 30 shots fired by at least one masked man.
A Danish news outlet reported three police officers were wounded in the shooting. A Danish television station reported that one civilian at the scene died as the result of gunshots.
Helle Merete Brix, one of the organizers of the event, told The Associated Press that Vilks was present at the event but not injured.
“I clearly consider this as an attack on Lars Vilks,” she said.
The event was titled “Art, Blasphemy and the Freedom of Expression,” an held in a cafe in northern Copenhagen. The shots were fired through the glass door at the occupants inside.
Al Qaeda had placed a $150,000 bounty on his Vilks’ head after the dog-headed Mohammad cartoon was first published in 2007.
François Zimeray, the French ambassador to Denmark, was at the conference and tweeted that he was “still alive.”
UPDATE: According to Fox News interview with a reporter in Denmark, Lars Vilk was unharmed. There are two suspects at large. They were driving a black Volkswagen, which was recovered.
Danish police are treating the shooting at the cafe as a “likely terrorist attack.”
Danish special police had been placed outside the café during the event because of Vilks’ presence. That is why the gunmen were unable to enter the cafe and most of the victims were the police stationed outside.