July 13, 2017
A U.S. soldier accused of wanting to commit a mass shooting after pledging loyalty to the Islamic State group believed the moon landing was faked, questioned the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and thought the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were an inside job coordinated by the U.S. government, according to a former Army bunkmate.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Ikaika Kang is scheduled to appear in federal court in Honolulu Thursday for a detention hearing.
Kangs military training, weapons abilities and personal combat skills, coupled with his strong stated desire to kill people in the name of Islamic State, makes him one of the more dangerous criminal defendants to have been charged in this judicial district, prosecutors wrote in a motion asking that be held without bail.
According to court documents, Kang met with undercover agents he thought were from the Islamic State group at a home in Honolulu, where he pledged allegiance to the group and kissed an Islamic State flag.
Kang was arrested immediately to remove the possibility that he would act on his impulse to kill people in the name of Islamic State, prosecutors wrote.
Kang and Dustin Lyles, a medically retired soldier, bunked together for a month in 2013 during military training. The two were friends for several years before Lyle left the Army and the two lost touch.
Lyles told The Associated Press that Kangs arrest came as a shock and that he never heard Kang express support for the enemy. They shared sleeping quarters, ate together and practiced mixed martial arts.
If I had known that then ... I wouldnt even have talked to him after that, Lyles said.
Lyles said he and Kang debated about conspiracies, including that 9/11 was a false flag attack staged by the U.S. to spark wars in the Middle East.
