[LINK] "Mohamud Mohamed Mohamud: Hamilton youth reported killed as ISIS fighter 'not the son ..."
CBC's Jeff Green describes the grief and confusion felt by the people who knew Mohamud Mohamed Mohamud, a Somali-Canadian from Hamilton who was a student at York University before he left to become a jihadist for the Islamic State in Syria and died there in recent airstrikes. No one seems to know what set him off.
Roughly one year ago, Mohamud Mohamed Mohamud, then 19 years old and a biology student at Toronto's York University, met a group of friends at a hip-hop dance audition, and later partied and grew close with them. But he eventually cut them off - through the spring and summer of 2014.
By July, while those friends thought they lost touch with an athletic, outgoing man, who at times seemed unsure of himself and his identity, his family in Hamilton was frantically trying to warn the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and RCMP that their eldest son may have taken up arms with Islamic State in Iraq and Syria militants.
Earlier this week, CSIS, albeit unofficially, told the family there were reports he was killed by the anti-ISIS military campaign, apparently dying during attacks from Kurdish forces in northern Syria last week.
His extended family has gone into seclusion to deal with their loss, said Hamilton lawyer Hussein Hamdani, who tried to help the family once they realized he was "crossing over."
What happened that led to the change remains a mystery, he said.
"That is an important question that we must look at and try to find the answer to."
Roughly one year ago, Mohamud Mohamed Mohamud, then 19 years old and a biology student at Toronto's York University, met a group of friends at a hip-hop dance audition, and later partied and grew close with them. But he eventually cut them off - through the spring and summer of 2014.
By July, while those friends thought they lost touch with an athletic, outgoing man, who at times seemed unsure of himself and his identity, his family in Hamilton was frantically trying to warn the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and RCMP that their eldest son may have taken up arms with Islamic State in Iraq and Syria militants.
Earlier this week, CSIS, albeit unofficially, told the family there were reports he was killed by the anti-ISIS military campaign, apparently dying during attacks from Kurdish forces in northern Syria last week.
His extended family has gone into seclusion to deal with their loss, said Hamilton lawyer Hussein Hamdani, who tried to help the family once they realized he was "crossing over."
What happened that led to the change remains a mystery, he said.
"That is an important question that we must look at and try to find the answer to."