Written By : Kathleen McKinley

You probably remember all the controversy in 2006 when the artist Kurt Westergarrd drew that cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed wearing a bomb as a turban. But you might have missed the story that last week he was almost murdered in his own home.

The Danish intelligence service (PET) built a panic room in Westergarrd’s home, and trained him to race to it if necessary, not worrying about others in the house, because terrorist rarely go after family members. That seems rather strange to me, but Westergarrd did just that last week. While babysitting his five year old granddaughter, a Somali man, with ties to a Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab and Al Qaeda, armed with an axe and a knife burst into his home. Not having time to grab his granddaughter, Westergarrd ran to the panic room and pressed the alarm for the police. The attacker hacked at the panic room door screaming about blood and revenge.

When the police arrived, the Somali man threw the axe at them and they shot him, but not fatally. Westergarrd’s granddaughter was unhurt, but I doubt Westergarrd’s son will be letting grandpa babysit again anytime soon.*

In another twist to this story, the terrorist, who was a Danish Muslim, was kicked out of Kenya last year after being suspected of an attack on Sec. of State, Hillary Clinton during her visit there.

*There are conflicting news reports on whether Westergarrd had his granddaughter with him in the safe room. This story says she was with him, but the story in “The Week” reports that he did not have time to get her before going into the panic room (subscription only).

crossposted at KathleenMcKinley.com

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