Members of the Garland Police Department are stand inside the Curtis Culwell Center, Sunday, May 3, 2015, in Garland, Texas.

Two reportedly armed suspects were shot dead Sunday outside an art exhibit in Texas, which featured depictions of the Prophet Mohammad and was described as a “cartoon free speech event.”

Police shot the two men at the scene and a police officer was wounded during the incident, according to Reuters news agency, citing the exhibition organizers.

The American Freedom Defense Initiative had organized the event in Garland featuring far-right populist Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who has been outspoken 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,” he said in an email to Agence France-Presse, adding that the shooting was an attack on “liberties.”

Wilders also tweeted the news soon after it broke: “Shots fired at Garland Mohammed cartoon free speech event. I just left the building after speeching.”

Police said they had not determined the identity of the two gunmen or whether they were linked to critics of the event who had branded it anti-Islamic.

As a precaution, a police bomb squad was checking the suspects’ car, and the immediate vicinity of the Culwell Center was evacuated, city police spokesman Joe Harn told Reuters.

Investigators were keeping their distance from the bodies of the gunmen, which were close to the car, until the vehicle was deemed clear of explosives, he said later.

The men had reportedly opened fire at the art exhibit.

Police officers address attendees at the Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest after they are prevented from leaving when it was reported that shots were fired and a man is down in Garland, Texas May 3, 2015.

The shooting, an echo of past attacks or threats in other Western countries on art depicting the Prophet, was reported shortly before 7 p.m. at the Curtis Culwell Center.

The center is a special-events venue that hosts graduation ceremonies, concerts, trade shows, weddings and sporting events an Garland, northeast of Dallas.

The two armed suspects drove up to the front of the building in a car as the event, called the “Muhammad Art Exhibit,” was coming to an end, and began shooting at a security officer, the city said in a message posted online.

Garland police officers then exchanged fire with the gunmen, and both suspects were shot dead, the city said. The security officer was wounded in the gunfire, but the guard’s injuries were not considered life-threatening, according to the statement.

The Dallas Morning News reported that critics of the art exhibit, sponsored by a group called the American Freedom Defense Initiative, had condemned the event as an attack on Islam, but that organizers had said they were merely exercising their right of free expression.

Western art depicting the Prophet has sometimes angered Muslims and provoked threats from radicals. In January, Islamist gunmen attacked the Paris offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in revenge for its cartoons of the Prophet, killing 12 people.

A police officer prevents attendees from leaving the Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest after shots were fired outside the venue in Garland, Texas May 3, 2015.

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