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Former classmate: Mahin Khan, man arrested on terrorism charges, showed signs of radicalization

Posted at 11:04 PM, Jul 04, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-05 02:04:10-04

A former classmate of the man accused of planning to commit acts of terrorism against government buildings in Maricopa and Pima counties says there were signs of trouble. 

Mahin Khan, who was arrested early Friday morning, attended Catalina Foothills High School north of Tucson.

"He was quiet," said a former classmate who did not want to be identified.

This classmate says a month into their friendship, things got weird.

"Anytime he would hear something about the Middle East and America's involvement, he would become mad. He would always tell me how much he did not like America."

Khan's classmate says Khan even tried to buy a gun. But it wasn't until he saw posts on social media that he decided to cut ties.

"He started to tag me on Facebook in all of these calls for Jihad posts and stuff for radicalized Islam."

The former classmate says he only told the school and Facebook, never taking this information to the FBI, because he didn't take Khan seriously.

Details regarding Khan's arrest and the evidence supporting the charges of terrorism and conspiracy to commit terrorism will be released when the court documents are unsealed later this week.