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Who is Ohio ISIS supporter Munir Abdulkader?

Crime & Law
July 7, 2016
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Munir Abdulkader is a 21-year-old West Chester Twp. man who planned to kill police officers and a military officer, join the terrorist group ISIS, and purchased an AK-47 with the intent to execute his plan, federal investigators say.

Here are five things we know about Abdulkader:

  1. He pleaded guilty in March 2016 to attempting to kill police officers and a military official with firearms and Molotov cocktails. He conducted surveillance at the police station on May 18, 2015. He was arrested three days later after purchasing an AK-47 for $350. The plea agreement was under seal until Thursday.
  2. He was a student at "a university in Cincinnati" in 2014 and 2015, but Xavier University officials confirmed they had a student named Munir Abdulkader as a student from Fall 2013 to Spring 2015. Kelly Leon, Xavier University director for Strategic Communications, said because of privacy laws "there is nothing more the University can say about the student" but said university officials have conferred with the FBI. Lakota Local Schools reported to this news outlet they had a record of a Munir Abdulkadir Mohammed who graduated from Lakota East in 2013 (note the different spelling than what's listed on federal court documents).
  3. He's from Eritrea, which is a country in East Africa. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south and southwest and Djibouti in the southeast. The Red Sea borders its northeastern and eastern border. He became a U.S. citizen in 2006.
  4. Abdulkader intended to join ISIS in Syria as a fighter, researching how to do so online. He expressed his support for ISIS on Twitter accounts. He went so far as to make "plans and preparations" to travel to Syria, including securing a passport, saving money for the trip, and researching details of traveling to the country and joining the terrorist group.
  5. In May 2015, he was in communications with one or more people overseas believed to be members of ISIS, and federal investigators say one of those people claimed to be Junaid Hussain, who was a supporter of ISIS and was killed in August 2015 (court documents spell it as Hussein). Hussain allegedly encouraged "lone wolf terrorism."
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