Watch CBS News

I-35W Bridge Collapse Survivor Linked To ISIS

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A man believed to have left Minnesota to join ISIS was on the I-35W bridge when it collapsed in 2007.

Mohamed Roble was one of the children rescued from a school bus after the collapse. His name has come up during testimony in the terror recruitment plot of 3 men currently on trial. WCCO learned more about his past and how he may have spent the settlement money from the bridge collapse.

In 2007, Mohamed Roble was a 10-year-old on a community center bus with his four siblings and dozens of other kids, when the I-35W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River. Thirteen people died.145 were injured.

Documents show Roble suffered headaches, arm, neck and back pain, nightmares and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Doctors felt Mohamed Roble "seems the most traumatized of the siblings."
Later Roble worked on his spiritual belief saying that "God had saved him for a purpose."

Fast forward to August of 2014. That's when court documents reveal Roble was eligible to receive his settlement from the state. $65,431.22 on his 18th birthday.

It's money that came up during the current trial of three men accused of trying to leave Minnesota to join ISIS. Testimony inside Federal Court suggested the defendants knew Roble had money from an accident. They asked him to fund their travel to Syria to join the terror organization.

Shortly after receiving the settlement money, Roble left the U.S. in 2014. According to testimony, authorities learned he made it to Syria. A secretly recorded conversation revealed while there he handed cash out like "candy" in the country.

Testimony revealed Roble and his uncle, Abdi Nur, skyped with the defendants from Syria last year.
Both Nur and Roble are believed to have died there.

WCCO was unable to reach Roble's family for comment. The U.S. Attorney's office, which is prosecuting the terror case, had no comment.

Attorneys will make final arguments in the terror trial on Tuesday.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.