NEW HOPE, Minn. – Recent revelations about an American killed while fighting alongside ISIS terrorists in Syria reveal the 33-year-old once shared a high school and address with another American terrorist killed in 2009.
White House officials identified former Robbinsdale Cooper High School student Douglas McArthur McCain as a casualty in the brutal ongoing conflict between rebel groups and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government. The Free Syrian Army, one of the rebel groups, stated on social media that McCain was fighting on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a faction of al Qaeda, ABC reports.
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McCain is the second American terrorist from Robbinsdale to die fighting with jihadists overseas. Troy Kastigar, who was killed while fighting for a different al Qaeda affiliated group – al-Shabab – in Somalia in 2009, attended the same high school.
The two were reportedly close friends that shared an address after graduation, according to the news site.
“They were both sort of searching, it seemed like,” Julianne Boada, Kastigar’s mother, told the New York Daily News. “I think both of them had a really strong desire to be needed and (be) of value.”
Boada described McCain as “goofy” although always “polite and respectful.”
McCain, who fancied himself a budding rap star, tweeted that he “reverted to Islam 10 years ago and I must say sha Allah I will never look back the best thing that ever happened to me.”
The Daily News reports that before McCain traveled abroad he began posting “increasingly extremist statements and photos” on social media. In January 2013, McCain reportedly posted a picture of Kastigar as his Facebook profile picture with the cutline “One of the realize (sic) n—-s I know.”
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Both McCain and Kastigar also had a fair number of run-ins with the law, McCain for disorderly conduct and Kastigar for credit card fraud. Both also had traffic violations on their record, according to the Daily News.
Robbinsdale High School Principal David Brom told ABC there wasn’t anything particularly memorable about either of the young men during their time at the school.
There was “no indication whatsoever that these two students would eventually end up fighting for al-Shabab or ISIS.
“We never would’ve guessed that,” Brom told ABC. “It was a pretty normal high school. We had pretty normal kids … I can only think it was influences beyond the high school, certainly beyond the community.”
Boada said both young men attended Baptist services at a church where they played basketball, and “had quite a few friends in school who were Somali immigrants and an African American friend whose family was Muslim,” according to the Daily News.
McCain reportedly attended San Diego City College before heading overseas last year. He tweeted earlier this year that he was eager to join the group. He was killed over the weekend in a clash with another Syrian rebel group and reportedly had $800 and a U.S. passport in his possession.
Kastigar left the U.S. for Kenya about 10 months before he was killed in Somalia in 2009, the Daily News reports.
Both men were featured in a propaganda video released in 2013 aimed at recruiting others from America.
“Described as ‘Minnesotan martyrs,’ the men are praised for their willingness to die for the cause in the 40 minute clip …” the Daily News reports.
“This is the best place to be, honestly,” Kastigar said in the video. “If you guys only know how much fun we have, this is the real Disneyland. You need to come here and join us, take pleasure in this fun.”
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