***Scroll for updates…shooter angered over Israel-Lebanon war…one dead…shooter reportedly said “I’m a Muslim-American. I’m angry at Israel” before rampage began…report from Harborview Medical Center – all five injured victims are women ranging in age from 20s to 40s…one 17 weeks pregnant, shot in arm…baby ok…police presence stepped up at local Seattle-area synagogues…933pm Eastern: KOMO reporting FBI questioning suspect…suspect is a US citizen of Pakistani descent…relatives being questioned…***

***1005pm Eastern: Why does the FBI do this…”There’s nothing to indicate that it’s terrorism related,” according to David Gomez, who heads the FBI’s counterterrorism efforts in Seattle. Right. Never mind the eyewitness reports of him declaring himself to be a Muslim angry at Israel. Crikey.***

***1230am Eastern update…here’s a statement from United Jewish Communities (UJC), in response to the shootings at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, a UJC member federation…***

Seattle Times Mayor Greg Nickels quoted by Reuters: “This is a crime of hate.” All acts of terrorism, freelance or organized, are.

NYTimes: “Two minutes later [after the first reports of shots], 911 dispatchers were on the phone with the suspect, said Chief R. Gil Kerlikowske of the Seattle Police, at a news conference Friday night. Because of what the suspect said in that conversation, which the chief would not disclose, the shootings are being treated as a hate crime, he said.”

Chaos in downtown Seattle via King 5

Pakistani Muslim suspect in custody (hat tip: Jim Hoft)

Victim being taken from the scene via KOMO TV

Murder at the Jewish Federation building downtown.

Jim Hoft’s covering it.

KING 5 TV reports 1 dead, at least 5 injured.

Police have taken one person into custody but there may be more suspects in or around the building. Sources told KING 5 the suspect is a Pakistani man with a criminal background.

SWAT teams and a bomb disposal unit are at the scene. The building was still being searched.

Three victims are believed to be women. Two of them are in their 20’s. One was reportedly shot in the abdomen and another, a pregnant woman, was shot in the arm. They were taken to Harborview Medical Center. Another person has a knee injury.

AP coverage here.

Allah Pundit is trying not to assume the worst.

But I am reminded of Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, the freelance jihadist who murdered 3 at the El Al ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport on July 4, 2002. It took nearly a year for the feds to acknowledge that it was an act of terrorism.

Stand by.

***

Update 8:46 PM Eastern: Allah points to the Seattle P-I, which details the Muslim shooter’s motives:

At least five people were shot – one fatally – this afternoon at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle by a man a witness said was upset about “what was going on in Israel…”

…One witness, who declined to give her name, said a man walked into the Jewish Federation building with a gun, said he was upset about what was going on in Israel, then opened fire. After the shootings, the man said to call 911, the witness said. The witness said the man identified himself as an American Muslim.

Charles Johnson has video via King 5 TV of the suspect in custody.

The website of the Jewish Federation of Seattle is here.

***

Flashback: Sympathizer Terrorists – Terrorists don’t always carry membership cards.

Gerard Van der Leun blogs from Seattle. His thoughts from downtown are here. His coverage for Pajamas Media is here.

Jim Miller at SoundPolitics points to some inflammatory rhetoric printed in the Seattle Times.

comments (0)   trackbacks (37)