Did My Classmate Try to Join ISIS? The Double Life of Alexander Mercurio

Using the online alias Polnoyedinstvo, Mercurio communicated with a group chat about his faith and plans. A criminal complaint used in court contains transcriptions of some of Mercurio’s online conversations:

“I know I try to keep secret, I’m in north Idaho very Christian and conservative parents are mad cause I’m not shaving beard and not letting pants go below ankle.”

Alexander Mercurio to a Confidential Human Source

Mercurio was, not so long ago, just another student at the local community college. His classmates share what they thought of Mercurio before his arrest.

“It almost feels like I’ll see him the next class. It just doesn’t feel real in many ways. I can hardly believe that he would just go and do that,” said third-year student Nolan Meyer.

“I actually have his phone number, I wanted to talk to him and kind of be his friend, but he didn’t seem like the social type. He reminded me of myself a little bit.

“I kind of figured he might be more into edgy humor, that kind of thing But I didn’t think he supported ISIS,” said Meyer.

“I mean, I always consider myself a partial hypocrite. I COULD go outside right now and stab someone with a knife or steal my father’s weapons and get shahadah [declaration of faith] but I haven’t…”

Alexander Mercurio to a Confidential Human Source

Bob Quant, who had instructed Mercurio in the Fall 2023 semester, said he had no comment to make beyond that he was shocked by the news.

“Ok brother it was calm for a couple days, now its serious. Theyre sending me to in person school again, more therapy more stuff like that etc etc, probably not coming back anytime soon. Obviously make dua [prayer], tell brothers, etc.”

Alexander Mercurio to a Confidential Human Source

“It’s scary. It’s more scary knowing I talked to him multiple times,” said Luke McGregor, who said he was in the Computer Information Technology (CITE) program with Mercurio during the fall semester. “I never would’ve guessed.”

McGregor added that Mercurio “seemed like a troubled soul.”

“I thought about what you said, and to answer your question, my ideal self would be someone who is fulfilling all of his religious obligations to the best of his ability; someone who is always striving for the sake of Allah however he can,”

Alexander Mercurio to a Confidential Human Source

“It kind of makes sense, thinking back, that he would be more into different beliefs with how he barely socialized with people in the classes I had with him,” said Ethan Bishop, who was also a classmate of Mercurio’s in various classes. “He was just pretty antisocial, he didn’t really like interacting with people that much.”

“It’s very scary that something could’ve happened, but it’s good that he really wasn’t secret about it, thankfully, he got shut down, and hopefully he doesn’t get out any time soon,” said Bishop.

“…Is not the saying ‘there is no life without Jihad’ true? ‘I pray that allah forces us to die exclusively as Muslims, not even a chance of kufr [disbelief], even though saying that is uhhh… rude?”

Alexander Mercurio to a Confidential Human Source

Mercurio has been introduced to the world with accusations of plotting terrorism. But to a host of NIC students, he was just another classmate, another student. And to them, it’s a great shame and a great shock he made the choices he did.

EDIT: Some statements were changed in light of the fact that Mercurio has not yet been sentenced and to remove subjectivity from the article.