A former San Diego City College student died in Syria fighting for the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, otherwise known as ISIS, federal authorities announced.
According to various news outlets, the White House confirmed the death of Douglas McAuthur McCain on Aug. 26.
“We are aware of U.S. citizen Douglas McAuthur McCain’s presence in Syria and can confirm his death,” said a statement from Caitlin Hayden, a spokesperson for the National Security Council.
It was reported by KARE 11 news, a CNN affiliate, that he was killed during a confrontation between ISIS and the Free Syrian Army.
It was also confirmed that McCain attended City College for a period of time.
“The San Diego Community College District has confirmed that Douglas McAuthur McCain previously attended San Diego City College,” Heidi Bunkowske, San Diego City College’s public information officer, said via email.
However, how long he attended the college or whether he graduated cannot be confirmed or released due to a district policy not to disclose student information.
“Typically, the district policy is not to disclose student information. But in this case, the decision to do so was made because McCain had already posted it to Facebook,” Bunkowske said.
McCain, 33, was born in Illinois, raised in Minnesota and eventually settled in San Diego. His uncle, Ken McCain, told CNN that after practicing Christianity for a number of years, he became a follower of Islam, and on May 14, he posted on Twitter, “I reverted to Islam 10 years ago and I must say In sha Allah I will never look back the best thing that ever happened to me.”
It is not known how McCain got involved with ISIS, but starting in early May, he began tweeting and re-tweeting pro-ISIS ideals and sentiments.
“Your irrelevant opinion won’t change Sharia,” one re-tweet on McCain’s twitter page stated. Another re-tweet by McCain from Twitter user Ismael patel stated, “It takes a warrior to understand a warrior. Pray for ISIS.”
KARE 11 news also reported that McCain’s family was notified of his death by the State Department on Aug. 25.
