SEATTLE - A man walked into a Jewish organization Friday afternoon and opened fire, killing one woman and injuring at least five others before he was arrested, officials said.
The gunman, who employees said claimed to be a Muslim angry at Israel, forced his way through the security door at the Jewish Federation after an employee had punched in her security code, said Marla Meislin-Dietrich, a co-worker who was not at the building at the time.

Staff members said they overheard him saying "'I am a Muslim American, angry at Israel,' before opening fire on everyone," Meislin-Dietrich said. "He was randomly shooting at everyone."

Police would not confirm the account. When asked if the suspect was a Muslim, Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said at a news conference "you could infer that that was his background." Kerlikowske gave no further details about the man except that he was between 30 and 40.

Naveed Afzal Haq was booked into jail late Friday for investigation of homicide and attempted homicide.

The shooting ended shortly after it erupted about 4 p.m. Employees fled the center as police officers charged to the scene and blocked off several downtown blocks.

The gunman turned himself in to a SWAT team just minutes later. He spoke with a 911 dispatcher, a phone call that led police to call the shooting a hate crime. Mayor Greg Nickels and Kerlikowske said officers were moving to protect synagogues and mosques around the city, but said there was no evidence of a broad threat.

"This was a purposeful, hateful act, as far as we know by an individual acting on his own," Nickels said.

Kerlikowske said officers were protecting mosques "because there's always the concern of retaliatory crime."

Laura Laughlin, special agent in charge of the Seattle FBI office, said the suspect is a U.S. citizen who is not from Seattle. Agents were working to contact his relatives, she said.

Authorities have been advising synagogues and Jewish groups to be watchful in the weeks since hostilities erupted between Israel and Lebanon.

The federation's Web site describes its mission as "to ensure Jewish survival and enhance the quality of Jewish life by meeting needs locally, in Israel and worldwide." It was among the sponsors of a Solidarity With Israel rally last weekend.

Patti Simon was at work at the federation's newspaper on the first floor when she heard the commotion and what sounded like furniture crashing on the second floor.

"We heard this horrible screaming on the floor above us and shots," said Simon, 52, who sells advertising at the paper. "We didn't know what was happening."

Simon called up to her co-workers on the second floor, but got no answer, so she called the police and fled the building.

"People got shot, some of our co-workers," Simon said, her voice shaking. "I just got back from Israel and made it out of there a half hour before the rockets started."

A small pool of blood remained outside a nearby coffee shop, where several witnesses said they saw a man walk up and shoot a woman in the leg on a sidewalk.

One person died at the scene of the shooting. Five women were taken to Harborview Medical Center, three of them in critical condition, hospital spokeswoman Pamela Steele said. Deanna Nollette, a police spokeswoman, said the deceased was a woman who was shot.

The names of the victims were not immediately released

  I lay odds that the shooter is a card-carrying member of the Democratic Underground.  Those people scare me...

  go ;)...

This is not the first time something like this has happened.  About 10 years ago Buford Farrow entered a Jewish day care center and proceeded to shoot it up, wounding several children and killing a postal worker.

And this recent attack was not the first time in recent years that American Muslims have vented their anger at innocent people.  I am sure we all remember the "Beltway Snipers".

I just hope that people realize that these people are abberations, and that most Muslims are against the violence taking place.

Well, it seems that the guy that did this is mentally ill, and has a large number of issues.

His father is the leader of a local Islamic Center, but he is not considered to be in any way radical.  The man who did the shooting is bi-polar, and is on medication.  He claimed to have left the Islamic faith, because of the way they treat women.  Yet he was recently arrested for exposing himself to women in the makeup isle of a department store.

This is really nothing more then a random act of violence by a mentally ill person.  And my prayers are going out to all of those affected by this, both his families and those who were wounded.  One of the women shot is 17 weeks pregnant.  It shows how mentally damaged he is when he claims to have left Islam because of how it treats women, then is arrested for exposing himself in public, then shoots several women in such a fashion.

^ As much as this murderer is an aberration among Muslims, he is an aberration among people suffering from mental illnesses.
The crime rate among people afflicted with bi-polar disorder, major depression, and schizophrenia is no higher than it is among the general population. 

I wish Mr. Angry-at-Israel had surrendered his weapons to the authorities and sought treatment at his local crisis center.  Aside from the immediate victims of his violence, this azzh0le did more harm to Muslims worldwide than to Jews. 
>:(

^ As much as this murderer is an aberration among Muslims, he is an aberration among people suffering from mental illnesses.
The crime rate among people afflicted with bi-polar disorder, major depression, and schizophrenia is no higher than it is among the general population. 

I wish Mr. Angry-at-Israel had surrendered his weapons to the authorities and sought treatment at his local crisis center.  Aside from the immediate victims of his violence, this azzh0le did more harm to Muslims worldwide than to Jews. 
>:(


I suppose it did...but it still makes me scared every time I go out onto the street. My mom's hairdresser, who happens to be Jewish, went into a convenience store in a nearby, mostly Islamic neighborhood and was harassed by a group of guys fairly recently.

I think people need to realize that all Jews are not responsible for Israel's actions, as much as all Muslims are not responsible for Iran's actions and all Christians are not responsible for the religious right's actions.