A rescue unit rushes an injured woman from the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle building after the shooting. The gunman, witnesses say, told them he was a Muslim-American. The gunman called 911 and later surrendered, police say.

Elaine Thompson / the associated press

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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.

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.

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.

"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."