President Donald Trump announced today that U.S. special forces had killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Northern Syria.
In a speech delivered at the White House, Trump remembered four of the group’s victims including University of Central Florida student and Floridian Steven Sotloff.
South Florida native Sotloff had attended UCF from 2002 to 2004 where he focused on journalism before leaving for Israel where he completed his studies.
He stayed in the Middle East working as a freelance journalist for TIME Magazine and other publications before he was killed by ISIS in 2014. He was 31 years old.
Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig also known as Abdul-Rahman Kassig were humanitarian aid workers killed by ISIS. James Foley was a fellow journalist killed only two weeks before Sotloff.
His family established The Steven Sotloff Memorial Endowed Fund at UCF to fund scholarships for journalism students and support other programs to advance journalism education.
To watch President Trump’s full speech or read his remarks, click on the link.
