Synagogue Attacked as Terror Spree Continues in Copenhagen

The White House issued its first reaction to today’s terrorist attack in Copenhagen just before reports came in of shots fired at a synagogue.

“The United States condemns today’s deplorable shooting in Copenhagen,” National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a statement, in reference to the attack on a free-speech forum where cartoonist Lars Vilks was speaking. “We offer our condolences to the loved ones of the deceased victim, and our thoughts are with those wounded in this attack. We have been in close contact with our Danish counterparts and stand ready to lend any assistance necessary to the investigation.”

Vilks was featured on a “wanted” poster in a 2013 issue of al-Qaeda’s Inspire magazine. Next to Vilks on the poster was Stéphane Charbonnier, murdered in the January attack on Charlie Hebdo.

The date is significant because today in 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the murder of Salman Rushdie and his publishers over The Satanic Verses.

President Obama is in Palm Springs for the weekend and was on the golf course as the day’s events unfolded.

An update from Haaretz on a rapidly unfolding situation:

Three people were wounded in a shooting outside of a Copenhagen synagogue, Danish police said late Saturday night.

Police say one person was shot in the head and two policemen were injured by gunfire before the shooter fled by foot.

However, police said it was too early to link the synagogue shooting to Saturday’s shooting that left one dead and three wounded.

Danish television station TV2 said a large metro and train station nearby, Norreport, was being evacuated.

A civilian was killed and three police were wounded on Saturday in a shooting at a meeting in Copenhagen attended by Lars Vilks, an artist who has received death threats since publishing images of the Prophet Mohammed.

The guard at the synagogue, shot in the head, has reportedly died of his wounds.

#Denmark – – #Copenhagen attack: Image of shooting suspect released – SBS News – http://t.co/rGObiOOIHc pic.twitter.com/Hdh0vVKkNw

— Dio Perix (@DioPerix) February 14, 2015

Inna Shevchenko of the Ukrainian protest group FEMEN was in the cafe for the Vilks event and live-tweeted much of the earlier shooting. She said she heard about 20 shots as they started to run. Police were guarding the event. BBC has audio of the attack.

I was at the point of ny speech when i was saying that often it is an illusion that we have freedom of speech in Europe.then we heard shots

— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015

Shooting at Synagogue .7hrs ago I wrote: Danish Jewish organizations and institutions should go into lock-down mode. #CopenhagenShooting

— Benjamin Weinthal (@BenWeinthal) February 15, 2015

Of course, some were cheering the attacks.