DALLAS — U.S. investigators believe two men killed after opening fire on a Texas event that offered a prize for cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad represent an evolving model of “lone wolf” militants who are radicalized partly by themselves and partly through long-distance engagement with organized militants.

The attack on Sunday, May 3 took place shortly before 7 p.m. in a parking lot of the Curtis Culwell Center, an indoor arena in the suburb of Garland, northeast of Dallas. Geert Wilders, a polarizing Dutch politician and anti-Islamic campaigner who is on a jihadist hit list, was among speakers at the event.

The two gunmen opened fire at the event  before they were shot and killed by security. There was reportedly one injury sustained by a police officer.

The two shooters were identified as Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi. The media was quick to note that Simpson once tried to travel to Somalia to join an Islamic militant group and had been monitored by the FBI since 2006.

Although the “Islamic State” movement claimed credit for the Texas shooting, several U.S. officials said investigators have no evidence that either of the men had traveled to Syria or Iraq.

Officials also said that no hard evidence had emerged to demonstrate that Simpson and Soofi attacked the contest venue under direct orders, or encouragement, from Islamic State leaders.

But a U.S. official said investigators believed it was likely that IS played an “inspirational” rather than an “operational” role in the attack.

Soofi’s father has said that someone coerced his son into participating in the attack, the Dallas Morning News reported this week.

In a written statement posted online by the newspaper, Azam Soofi described Nadir as “a model son.”

“Someone pushed him into this situation,” Azam Soofi said in the statement.

Nadir Soofi, who was born in the United States but lived abroad as a child, was a popular schoolboy in Pakistan but struggled to adjust after moving back to the U.S. as a teen, friends who studied with him in Pakistan have said.

At a small mosque in Texas near the site where two gunmen were shot dead after trying to storm an exhibit of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad, there was little sympathy for either the assailants or the organizers of the event.

“It is frustrating because freedom of speech is a very good thing. But you don’t use it to make a mockery out of the person. You don’t do it to be disrespectful,” said Mohammed Jetpuri, a retired North Texas resident who was one of about 10 men who came for prayers at Makkah Masjid, in Garland, the same melting-pot Dallas suburb of nearly a quarter million people where the shooting occurred.

Muslims in the area knew well about the exhibit by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, a free-speech organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has described as a hate group, and which paid $10,000 for extra security.

For the most part, area Muslims stayed away, waiting for it to be over.

Metro Detroit reactions

Dawud Walid, The Michigan executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), said the best way to respond to bigots like contest organizer Pamela Geller is by ignoring them. He added that the two extremists, who planned the attack in Texas appeared to be radicalized before Geller’s event and did not belong to the Muslim community in Dallas.

Walid expressed concerns about the anti-Muslim atmosphere around the country.

“In the wake of high profile issues, the risk of backlash is not limited to the area of the event, but the entire Muslim community,” he said.

Walid added that “corporate media” is rolling the story about the Garlan attack 24/7, which requires clarifications from the Muslim community. He urged those who address the issue to condemn the bigots while condemning the attackers.

“We have to say something based on the practical reality,” he said. “We should not only focus only on fringe extremists but also talk about individuals who are spreading hate. Just as I am against violence, I am against actions that incite hatred between Americans.”

Imam Talib Sanjari condemned the attack in taxes but also questioned the motives of the cartoon contest.

“This is not free speech,” he said. “This speech is coming from institutions that do not want the good of society. Why insult the prophet of 1.5 billion Muslims?”

Hoever Sanjari added that Islam refuses the culture of murder and revenge.

“Those who are drawing insulting cartoons and the others who wanted to murder them are partners in spreading chaos in society.”