Family Stunned Over Minnesota Man's Alleged Ties To ISIS
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The State Department has confirmed that a man who grew up in Minnesota has died while fighting for a terrorist group overseas.
Douglas McCain, a 33-year-old man who grew up in New Hope, died over the weekend in Syria. Officials said they believe he was killed while fighting for the terrorist group ISIS.
Pictures distributed by the Nahrawan al-Sham Operation -- an anti-ISIS operation -- show McCain after his death, with a neck tattoo that matches the one seen in many of his other pictures. The group said that McCain and another U.S. citizen were among the roughly 40 ISIS-affiliated fighters killed.
WCCO-TV talked to some of McCain's former friends, including one man, Isaac Chase, who lives in Minnesota who knew Douglas as "Doug" when they were kids. He says he would never recognize this person we are now learning of with terrorist ties.
WCCO-TV has also learned from intelligence sources McCain was on the U.S. government's radar. Sources say he was on a U.S. terror watch list and known to the FBI. If he had tried to re-enter the country, he would have likely faced a lot of questioning. U.S. officials believe dozens of Americans are fighting with terrorists in Syria with bad intentions for the U.S. when they return home.
On social media, McCain often praised ISIS under the name Dwale Khalid. One of his last tweets in June read, "It takes a warrior to understand a warrior. Pray for ISIS."
For a time, McCain lived in a New Hope apartment complex with family members. But he eventually moved to San Diego. Chase said the friend he knew as Doug helped him stay out of trouble as a kid by playing basketball with him.
"We just pretty much hung out from 10 a.m. all the way into night time. We just played basketball and talked, pretty much he was just an older guy that I looked up to. He was actually a good dude," Chase said. "It don't make no sense. The Doug I know is a good person and I wouldn't even think that he would do anything like that."
Another high school friend said she had seen Jihadist posts on his Facebook but thought that he was kidding. Friends and family say he was raised a Christian, but converted to Islam 10 years ago. He said on social media that was the best thing that ever happened to him.
A few family members have also spoken out about McCain and say they didn't know he had any bad intentions. Family members that have wanted to speak out say they knew he traveled to Turkey back in April, but did not know he had an interest in ISIS. Turkey is a common entrance for militants into Syria, according to intelligence sources.