Police stepped up security at Seattle synagogues and mosques yesterday, a day after a Muslim man who said he was angry at Israel shot dead one woman and wounded five others at a Jewish centre.
Naveed Afzal Haq, 31, burst into the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle on Friday afternoon. He surrendered without a struggle and police arrested him on charges of murder and five counts of attempted murder.
Amy Wasser-Simpson, the federation's vice president, told the Seattle Times the man got past security at the building and shouted, "I'm a Muslim American; I'm angry at Israel," before he began shooting.
Congregation Beth Shalom posted two armed, uniformed officers at morning services yesterday, according to a message on the Seattle synagogue's Website.
Authorities said they were "taking every precaution," searching for explosives and additional suspects, and were monitoring the city's synagogues and Jewish organisations.
Police said Haq is a US citizen and that their initial conversation with him by phone while he was inside the building indicated that he was a Muslim. Police would not disclose the content of the conversation.
"We are also protecting mosques, because there is always the concern of retaliatory crime," Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske told a news conference late on Friday. The Jewish federation, a group covering the Jewish community around the Puget Sound region, had organised a large rally last weekend to demonstrate support for Israel in its fight against Hizbollah in southern Lebanon.
A silent march to protest Israeli actions in Gaza planned for yesterday morning in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland was canceled due to safety concerns, according to Arsalan Bukhari, president of the Seattle chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations.
There are no plans to scale back weekend schools or any other religious activities, he said.
In light of the fighting in the Middle East, Seattle police alerted its officers earlier this week to carefully monitoring synagogues, temples and mosques, but Kerlikowske said they had received no specific threats.
At a news conference on Friday, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said, "This was a purposeful, hateful act as far as we know, by an individual acting alone... This is a crime of hate."
The FBI was working with local authorities on the case.
Local media reported Haq was on medication for a bipolar disorder and had a misdemeanor lewd conduct charge pending. He allegedly exposed himself at a shopping mall.
A hospital spokeswoman said three of the victims remain in critical condition. The surviving women range in age from 23 to 43, and one is pregnant. Police did not say whether the women were Jewish, and the dead woman's name has not been released.