ABSTRACT
Ruben Luis Leon Shumpert was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1977 to a Hispanic mother and an African American father. Reflecting on his upbringing in a court filing years later, Shumpert wrote, "My life has been peppered with substance abuse, crime, and hardships so severe it would have completely destroyed most people". As a teenager, Shumpert was arrested and remanded to juvenile detention on a firearms violation. With his release, the stage was set for a series of life-course events that would become turning points along Shumpert's pathway to terrorism. From the life-course perspective, Ruben Shumpert is seen as a common criminal who would have never become involved with the transnational terrorist organization al-Shabaab had he not gone to jail, because there he met Somali inmates who were sympathetic to their cause. Shumpert's intention was to assist al-Shabaab in its ruthless campaign of summary justice against US-supported government officials and Sufi Muslims in Somalia.
