Ukraine in Arabic | Gunmen killed outside Muhammad cartoon contest

05.05.2015 - 15:36 #US, #Dallas, #gun, #Prophet, #killed, #Prophet Muhammad, #AFDI, #cartoon contest, #Nadir Soofi, #Elton Simpson

Two gunmen who opened fire outside a conference on cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a suburb of Dallas have been identified, according to US media.

Kiev/ Ukraine in Arabic/ Officials have named them as Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, say the New York Times and the Washington Post newspapers. Both men were killed outside a community centre where an event, organised by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), was offering a cash prize for a drawing of the Prophet.

He outside of the Curtis Culwell Center is shown during the American Freedom Defense Initiative program on Sunday, May 3, 2015, in Garland, Texas. A provocative contest for cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad in a Dallas suburb is on lockdown after authorities reported a shooting outside the building. It wasn't immediately clear if the shooting was related to the event.

Two gunmen were killed Sunday after opening fire on a security officer outside a provocative contest for cartoon depictions of Prophet Muhammad in Texas and a bomb squad was called in to search their vehicle as a precaution, authorities said.

The men drove up to the Curtis Culwell Center in the Dallas suburb of Garland as the contest was scheduled to end and began shooting at a security officer, the City of Garland said in a statement. Garland police officers returned fire, killing the men.

"Because of the situation of what was going on today and the history of what we've been told has happened at other events like this, we are considering their car (is) possibly containing a bomb," Officer Joe Harn, a spokesman for the Garland Police Department, said at a news conference.