Family Hopes Report Of 2nd MN Man Dying Fighting For ISIS Are Wrong
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Family and friends of a Minnesota man are hoping reports that he died fighting with ISIS in Syria are wrong.
Earlier this week, authorities confirmed the death of Douglas McCain, who went to Robbinsdale-Cooper High School. The State Department said that McCain died over the weekend while fighting with ISIS in Syria.
On Thursday, the State Department said they could not confirm news and social media reports that a second Minnesotan -- Abdirahmaan Muhumed -- also died fighting for ISIS. However, CBS News spoke with his friends and family.
On Abdirahmaan Muhumed's Facebook page there is a plea in Somalian from his sister asking if he is still alive to please call her.
Mohamud Noor, a Minneapolis School Board member who has been in contact with family members, said they are hoping he is still alive.
"As of this time as of today we don't know what is his conditions, where he is, whether he's alive or whether he's dead," Noor said.
Family members told Noor, and another community leader Abdi Bihi, that Muhumed has left the U.S. to fight with rebel groups fighting Syrian President Bashir El Assad.
Bihi, who knows Muhumed, says he was an unlikely person to become radicalized.
"He was not the type to join these people," Bihi said. "He was very outgoing person. The bigger shock is, no, he's not that type."
Noor and Bihi estimate at least a dozen young men and at least one woman have left Minnesota in recent months to joins the Syrian rebels.
While some are driven by religion others are driven by lack of opportunity.
"These are young people who, their future has been robbed of them. They have been recruited for the wrong reasons, and it's time for us to come together and find a better way for so many young people who are struggling right in Minnesota," Noor said.
Bihi and Noor say they would not be surprised if in the near future there are additional reports of young Minnesotans who have left for Syria being killed while fighting alongside ISIS fighters.
