19-year-old honors student from Mississippi planned to join Islamic State

19-year-old honors student from Mississippi planned to join Islamic State
By Mark Ellis, Special to ASSIST News Service
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (ANS - August 12, 2015) -- She was a high school honors student and a member of the homecoming court only two years ago. Studying to become a doctor at Mississippi State and newly married, her family was left reeling by her arrest related to plans to join Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
Immediately before Jaelyn Young’s arrest, she allegedly praised the Chattanooga shooting by a home-grown radical Islamist, which claimed the lives of five American servicemen, according to a report by ABC News.
“What makes me feel bette[r] after just watching the news is that an akhi [brother] carried out an attack against US marines in TN! Alhamdulillah [Thanks be to God], the numbers of supporters are growing,” Young told an undercover FBI agent in a conversation online on July 17, a day after the deadly shooting, according to the FBI.
Last night authorities issued a criminal complaint against Young and 22-year-old Muhammad Oda Dakhlalla, another Mississippi resident. The FBI says the couple planned to travel to Turkey, then on to Syria to join ISIS, according to ABC News.
“The only thing keeping me away is $$$ but working all of this overtime will be worth [it] when I am finally there,” Young reportedly said online.
Based on Young’s pre-med studies, she hoped to provide medical aid to injured or wounded Islamic State, also known as ISIS, fighters after she got to Syria.
Young and Dakhlalla reportedly had an Islamic marriage for the purposes of traveling together to Syria. Initially, Dakhlalla allegedly said he wanted to use his computer science and media skills to help ISIS counter anti-ISIS messaging in the West, and then he would fight on ISIS’s behalf, according to ABC.
“I wish to be a mujahid akhi [holy warrior]. I am willing to fight. I want to be taught what it really means to have that heart in battle!” Dakhlalla allegedly told an undercover agent.
Photo caption:  Couple planned to use their honeymoon to join Islamic State.
MORE
About the writer: Mark Ellis is senior correspondent for the ASSIST News Service and also the founder of www.Godreports.com , a website that shares stories, testimonies and videos from the church around the world to build interest and involvement in world missions.
** You may republish this and any of our ANS stories with attribution to the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net)
Read more