Police hunting for lone suspect in deadly Copenhagen cafe shooting

Danish police are pursuing the suspect in a Copenhagen café shooting that killed one civilian and injured three police on Saturday.

The shooter opened fire at the Krudttoenden café, which was hosting a freedom of speech event organized by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has faced numerous threats for caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad.

Danish police confirmed that one civilian was killed in the attack, and that preliminary interviews suggested there was only one shooter.

Police have released a blurry security camera photo of the suspect, who was described in a police statement as a 25-30 year-old man carrying a black machine gun.

Denmark's Security and Intelligence Service also issued a statement, which read: "Everything indicates that the attack was planned, and the circumstances surrounding the shooting indicate that there is a terrorist attack."

About 30 bullet holes dotted the window of the café, which was hosting an event titled "Art, blasphemy and the freedom of expression" when the shots were fired.

"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 Denmark's TV2.

Helle Merete Brix, one of the event's organizers, said Vilks was at the meeting but was 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.

François Zimeray, the French ambassador to Denmark who was also at the event, tweeted that he was "still alive."

Vilks, a 68-year-old Swedish artist, has faced several attempted attacks and death threats after he depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a dog 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.

After gunmen attacked the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in Paris last month, killing 12 people, Vilks told The Associated Press that fewer organizations were inviting him to give lectures, due to security concerns.

Vilks also said he thought Sweden's SAPO security service, which deploys bodyguards to protect him, would step up the security around him.

"This will create fear among people on a whole different level than we're used to," he said. "Charlie Hebdo was a small oasis. Not many dared do what they did."

Al Jazeera and wire services