Charlie Hebdo Repeat? Texas Prophet Cartoon Contest Concludes With 2 Dead

Two suspects who may have been lobbying bombs were shot dead by the Texas police. One of the police officers was wounded outside a cartoon contest in Texas, according to abplive. 

The US cartoon competition was organized at Texas, by The American Freedom Defense Initiative, featuring far-right populist Dutch politician, Geert Wilders, who has been speaking out against Muslims.

"I am shocked. I just spoke for half an hour about the cartoons, Islam and freedom of speech and I had just left the premises," Wilder told AFP in an email.

"This is an attack on the liberties of all of us!" Wilders wrote, adding: "I hope it is not connected to death list (of) Al-Qaeda." He said that he felt secure with the police.

"#garlandshooting cop shot - two suspects dead, awaiting bomb squad for possible explosives at our free speech event #sharia,", tweets political activist and AFDI co-founder, Pamela Geller.

"What are we going to do? Are we going to surrender to these monsters?" she wrote on her website, according to tribune. "The war is here."

Cartoons of Prophet Mohammed have always been found offensive by Muslims. Earlier, the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten published 12 satirical cartoons in 2005, and Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical weekly put up cartoons. Gunmen killed 12 people in January.

According to SWAT officials, two male suspects roared up and fired on the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, near Dallas. It was hosting the competition, calling it a "free speech" event.

The police officer was shot in his leg and hospitatlised for recovery, according to local CBS news affiliate DFW.

Although the authorities are probing the incident, the cops claim that it is not clear whether the attack was related to the incident or not, according to yahoo.com.

The search is on for a vehicle with explosives. One local blogger commented that a suspect had been seen with a hand grenade at a nearby store. The expo center and surrounding businesses were immediately evacuated.

"There are multiple reports that two explosives have been placed in the area of Curtis Caldwell Center," the Rowlett/Sachse Scanner wrote on its Facebook page.

AFDI had offered a USD 10,000 prize for the contest winner.