And now at the Wall Street Journal, "From Florida Boy to Alleged Suicide Bomber in Syria: Acquaintances Describe Moner Abu-Salha as Friendly, Sociable Young Man":
VERO BEACH, Fla.—Years before he became an alleged suicide bomber in Syria, Moner Abu-Salha was known as a friendly, sociable young man in a tidy, gated neighborhood, here where he grew up. "He was a normal, everyday kid," said Mark Hill, who lives across the street from Mr. Abu-Salha's parents. "He was very pleasant, very polite."Continue reading.
It is a starkly different picture from the one U.S. officials painted on Friday, saying Mr. Abu-Salha was believed to be the first American to carry out a suicide bomb attack in the Syrian civil war. Officials gave his name, saying they had more than one spelling of it, and said he was believed to have died in a truck-bomb explosion last weekend. He was 22 years old, according to public records.
A number of attempts to contact Mr. Abu-Salha's family members failed. At the single-story house where neighbors said Mr. Abu-Salha's family lived, a woman declined to open the door and said, "No comment, no comment."
Neighbors, friends and acquaintances said Saturday they were shocked at the idea that the affable boy they once knew could have turned so extreme. But some said in recent years he had changed, adopting a more religious posture.
Mr. Abu-Salha, whose father was from Jordan and whose mother was an American who converted to Islam, grew up in an observant Muslim household, said Jessica Miller, a friend of Mr. Abu-Salha's younger sister. The father—who has owned grocery stores, according to public records—was strict and expected to have dinner ready and the house in order when he returned from work, she said. Mr. Abu-Salha and his wife are still partial owners of the Al-Noor Grocery Inc. in Melbourne, Fla., according to a woman who answered the phone there. She declined to comment further...
VIDEO: "Suicide Bombing Carried Out by American."
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