The Tunisian beach hotel massacre: Was the killer involved with ISIS?

The shooter is highly believed to be aligned with ISIS.

Last Friday, a very tragic event happened at the Imperial Marhaba Beach Hotel in Sousse, Tunisia. A 23-year-old man dressed just like any other tourist, passed by the hotel, and shot foreigners with a Kalashnikov rifle, he had hidden under his umbrella. Thirty-nine people died from this incident, while there were 36 others who were reported injured.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - The gunman was a young Tunisian student from a middle-class family, identified as Saif Rezgui. He was seen wearing black shorts and a T-shirt as he was strolling alone, like a vacationer at the beach hotel when he then opened fire on the foreigners.

He shot people on the beach, then he made his way toward the pool. Afterwards, he went straight to the hotel reception, shooting more tourists.

It is believed that Rezgui carried out the attack in the name of Islamic state. According to witnesses, Rezgui didn't have any accomplice with him when the shooting happened. However, the Tunisian authorities are investigating whether there were other people, aside from Rezgui, behind this attack.

Rezgui's family and neighbors couldn't believe what happened to the young person who they never imagined would have done something like this. According to them, Rezgui was just like any other student his age, who meets up with friends over coffee and cigarettes, and talks about girls and his favorite football team, Club Africa.

He used to work part time in a café. Aside from this, he was actually known for his liking of rap music and breakdancing. He was on break from his masters studies in Kairouan and met up with his uncle in Gaafour, a day before the shooting happened.

His uncle, Al Rezguin was devastated over the news and was quoted in a Reuters interview saying, "Who could imagine he would commit such a horror? Maybe he was changed where he studied, maybe it was something on the internet. But we just don't have any answers."

There are speculations Rezgui had been recruited to become an ISIS militant and embraced the ideology of the Islamic jihad. According to Rezgui's family and friends, he never talked about religion, but would only mention a little about his radical beliefs. He didin't have any criminal records, but a security source said he had been associated with the extremists, outside of Tunisia, over the internet, in the past six months.

The shooting is now considered Tunisia's worst militant attack. At the moment, there are more than 3,000 Tunisians fighting for ISIS, aside from those in Libya, Iraq, and Syria.   

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