Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan, known online as "Miski," surrendered to the government of Somalia early last month, a State Department spokesperson told reporters. Hassan has been wanted by the FBI since he left the U.S. in 2009 for allegedly providing "material support" to the al Qaeda-linked terrorist group al-Shabab in Somalia, often purportedly by convincing young American recruits to join. U.S. officials accuse Hassan of since moving on to recruiting for the Syria-based terror group ISIS.
Over the weekend ABC News reported that investigators were trying to determine if the couple who killed 14 people in San Bernardino last week had any online connection with Hassan in the months before he turned himself in.
Prior to the tragedy in San Bernardino, Hassan was linked to another deadly incident this year in Garland, Texas, where two men attempted to attack a Mohammad cartoon event, but were gunned down by police before they could kill anyone. In the days and weeks leading up to that attack, one of the gunmen had repeated social media contact with Hassan, who was urging his American followers to "do their part" like the three men who killed 12 people in Paris in January.