Breaking: Officer Wounded, Two Suspects Killed in Gunfight at Islamic Cartoon Contest in Texas

Currently being updated by Brandon Darby of Breitbart Texas:

Police have the area blocked off and have removed reporters for up to half a mile away. Helicopters are patrolling the skies and police are standing in the intersection, blocking the roads and are armed with M-16s.

UPDATE, 8:51 PM: A senior officer has said that the officer taken to the hospital will be OK, and that the two suspects will not be OK. The 100 people being held inside singing the Star-Spangled Banner to comfort themselves.

UPDATE, 8:45 PM: Police appeared to have escorted a few individuals through a conference room, and continue to patrol the perimeter.

UPDATE: Suspects had two AK-47’s according to police on the scene. The officer has been transported to the hospital. The suspects are still on the ground at the scene. They are not moving and are not being touched at this time until a bomb squad checks out their bodies.

Approximately 100 people are being held by police in a secured facility inside the event.

The incident occurred in Garland, a suburb of Dallas; Darby notes that “Armed police officers rushed in to the Mohammed Art Exhibit and Contest and quickly removed Pamela Geller and whisked her away to safety after a gunfight erupted outside of the event.” More as it comes in.

Some related tweets:

Cop gets shot in the head in NYC on Saturday, cops get shot and potential explosives at an art event in Dallas on Sunday. Cool country bro

— H (@Tark31) May 4, 2015

@PamelaGeller @instapundit Good ol’ religion of peace again. See what happens when you try this in Texas, islamists? Let this be a warning.

— James Taylor (@Gluesponge) May 4, 2015

A reminder (before it all starts anew): protecting speech you disagree with is almost certainly more important than protecting speech you do

— Carl Paulus (@CarlPaulus) May 4, 2015

And the Dallas Morning News begins the MSM spin that the victims had it coming:

@dallasnews @instapundit Well, a free speech tolerance event, just as we tolerated “piss Christ” – unless one is an Islamist radical. — Michael Mumford (@dudeinthemiddle) May 4, 2015

They were asking for it in that short dress. https://t.co/fUKCNc8wQK — Instapundit.com (@instapundit) May 4, 2015

Update: Jocelyn Lockwood, a reporter with the Dallas NBC affiliate, is live tweeting the aftermath of the incident. She notes that “two men pulled up got out of a vehicle and started shooting,” resulting in an officer being hospitalized after he was shot, and the nearby Walmart being evacuated as a precaution while “Garland PD setting up perimeter around vehicle near event, planning to search it.”

Plus at least one report of “Possible third suspect reportedly in Walmart with grenade.”

Meanwhile, Twitchy notes, “Tweeters bring the hate after shooting at Muhammad art contest in Texas,” and those praising the attack:

.@_AbuHu55ain <— @FBI, @GarlandPD, @TxStateUPD @twitter @DHSgov @CIA pic.twitter.com/cFDaWavqa2

— Amy Mek (@AmyMek) May 4, 2015

While Fox has live coverage, as of 7:14 PM PDT, apparently CNN is still working out the angle on the narrative and/or doesn’t want to break into its pro-pot documentary with actual breaking news:

@instapundit @GayPatriot @tjb2611 @andrewbostom exactly.. This was reported almost immediately in Australia. @CNN stateside slow to pick up

— CΔIΠΞMΔC (@cainemac) May 4, 2015

At Breitbart Texas, Brandon Darby updates his post; he speculates “the shooting was timed for the end of the conference so that the gunmen could target the crowd flooding out into the parking lot. The event went longer than expected, which potentially prevented further casualties. The event was initially scheduled to end at 7 PM.” And from Daniel Greenfield at David Horowitz’s FrontPage Website, “Muslims Praise Texas Mohammed Cartoon Attack, Claim Responsibility.” In video at Ezra Levant’s The Rebel Website, “David Menzies reports from terror attack on Garland, Texas ‘Mohammed cartoon’ event.” The New York Times goes for “the victims shouldn’t dress and/or talk so proactively” route…

The #NYT should change its slogan to “Free Speech Aside.” “@rcallimachi: Free speech aside, why would anyone do something as provocative…”

— Gavin McInnes (@Gavin_McInnes) May 4, 2015

…Which is a curious approach to take for a paper that hired Piss Christ “Artist” Andres Serrano to illustrate one of its daily rants on Abu Ghraib back in 2005.

Late Update:

“Christians must participate in ceremonies they object. Why would anyone do a Muhammad contest?” — Our American Media.

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) May 4, 2015

George Orwell will be spinning in his grave like a dreidel tomorrow, as the DNC-MSM ransacks their thesauruses to find new and unique ways to all say variations on “I believe in free speech, but…”