Suspect gunman identified

Following an earlier attack at a Prophet Muhammad cartoon conference where 2 gunmen were killed, one of the suspected gunmen has been identified.

According to BBC, the FBI named him as Elton Simpson, who had been previously investigated on suspicion of terrorism offences.

FBI officials said agents were searching an apartment in Phoenix, Arizona, where he reportedly lived.

The attacker allegedly drove to the Muhammad Art Exhibit in the Dallas suburb of Garland as the event was ending, firing with assault rifles on two officers in a parking lot. They were both shot dead.

The event where the gunmen stormed was organised by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), which is run by controversial blogger and activist Pamela Geller.

The conference included a contest that offered a $10,000 (about N1.9 million) prize for a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.

It also had  Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who is an outspoken critic of Islam in Western societies as one of the keynote speakers.

Officials believe that Simpson sent several Twitter messages before the Sunday's shooting, including one with the hashtag #texasattack part of which read:

"May Allah accept us as mujahideen" [holy fighters]"

The Twitter account was later suspended.

Court document have since shown that Simpson was convicted several years ago for lying to authorities about his plans to travel to Somalia.