Bafflement follows. How could this happen? Why?
Aaron Travis Daniels from Ohio was arrested Monday for allegedly trying to join the Islamic State terrorist group, also called ISIS. The U.S. Justice Department said Daniels, who is from Columbus, was also suspected of donating funds to the terrorist organization.
Authorities were investigating Daniels for months and arrested him at the John Glenn Columbus International Airport as he was boarding a plane to Libya “for the purpose of joining” ISIS, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reportedly said in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Columbus.
The 20-year-old Daniels — also known as Harun Muhammad and Abu Yusuf — admitted to authorities he sent money to ISIS recruiter Abu Issa al-Amriki through an intermediary and was reportedly going to travel from Columbus to Trinidad and Tobago via Houston on a United Airlines flight. From the Caribbean, he would have flown to Libya to join the militant group as a fighter.
He's a Muslim terrorist... so he must have mental problems. That's the usual excuse now.
Adrienne Daniels said the allegations against her son are a shock. She said he wanted to travel to the Middle East to study Islam.
"He must have got in contact with the wrong people," is the only answer she could give as she stood in the doorway of her home in the 2200 block of Century Drive. She said federal agents searched their home and took every electronic device and other items belonging to her son.
Or the right ones. For studying and practicing Islam.
Mrs. Daniels said Aaron, who graduated from the Early College Academy two years ago, and attended Columbus Alternative High School before that, "had issues. "He's not well, mentally," she said, but declined to elaborate. He had been working at a warehouse, she said.
They're all not well.
His mosque is also baffled and confused.
Members of a Northeast Columbus Islamic Center where a man suspected of supporting ISIS came to worship say they're stunned about the allegations against him.
Abshir Haji of the Masjid Ibnu Taymiyah Islamic Center says that 20-year old Aaron Daniels came to the center near his home to learn more about the faith. They also sad the last time they saw him was over the summer.
That's the usual story too. "We hardly ever saw him."