The mother of the gunman who attacked a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas said she became worried about her son after he purchased an assault rifle.
Sharon Soofi, mother of Nadir, who was killed with his roommate and fellow shooter during the May 3 attack, told the Wall Street Journal that she learned in January her son had bought an AK-47 on Craigslist and was surfing radical Islamist websites. Soofi said her son assured her that shooting was just a hobby.
“I had all the hopes and dreams that he would grow up and have a good life and raise a family and be successful,” she said. “For whatever reason he thought that wasn’t what he needed to do. Something else called him to take the path that he did.”
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack Nadir Soofi and Elton Simpson attempted to carry out on a controversial cartoon contest near Dallas, Texas. Depictions of Muhammad are forbidden in Islam.
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Write to Tessa Berenson at tessa.Rogers@time.com