Abdirahmaan Muhumed, the second known American to die while fighting alongside Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) militants, was formerly an employee with a Delta Airlines subsidiary at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Muhumed had a security clearance at the airport, access to the tarmac, and access to planes, as his job was to clean aircraft, Fox 9 in Minneapolis reported. It is yet unknown what level of security clearance he had.
Two former employees confirmed to Fox 9 that they worked with Muhumed at Delta Global Services (DGS), though it is unclear how long he worked for DGS or when he left the area to fight in Syria.
The Delta Airlines subsidiary’s cleaning contract at the airport was taken over by Airserv earlier this year. The Metropolitan Airports Commission, the body in charge of airport security clearances, would not comment to Fox 9 based on the ongoing FBI investigation.
Muhumed died during the same battle in Syria that killed Douglas McCain, another one of as many as 16 Minnesotans believed to have gone overseas to fight alongside IS. Muhumed and McCain were reportedly friends in high school near Minneapolis.