Adam Gadahn, AKA Azzam the American, poked his head out of his cave and released a video in late 2014.
Adam Gadahn, a former Orange County, Calif. teenage rock music fan revealed his role as a top al Qaeda leader back in 2006. Adam Gadahn, who disappeared from California around 2000, appeared unmasked on an al Qaeda tape made public on the internet back in 2006.
Gadahn, the grandson of a Jewish doctor, was killed in a US operations near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in January.
The LA Times reported:
He was raised on a ranch in Riverside County and later lived in Orange County, where he found his way to the Islamic Center of Orange County. There, he became increasingly radical in his beliefs, acquaintances and officials would later say, falling under the influence of two radical Muslims, Khalil Deek and Hisham Diab.
He became so angry and outspoken that he was eventually kicked out of the center.
A decadelong manhunt for Gadahn ended in January when he was killed during the U.S. counter-terrorism operation announced by President Obama announced on Thursday that also accidentally killed two innocent hostages.
To many, Gadahn was an enigma, a suburban kid who somehow found himself in the Middle East as a sworn enemy of the U.S.
Gadahn had been on the FBI’s list of most wanted terrorists and was the first American since the World War II era to be charged with treason. The government offered a $1-million reward for information leading to his arrest.
Gadahn released a video in 2012 where he called on all Muslims to fight America.