Early Life and Education
Maldonado was born in Pelham, New Hampshire, to Jose and Rena Maldonado. He has an older brother Scott and sister Tamara, and younger brother Josh. In 1995 as a freshman in high school, he was the only one to wear dreadlocks; friends said he liked attention in the suburban town. While remembered by teachers as bright and outspoken, he dropped out of high school before his junior year. Maldonado lived in other places in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, including Methuen. The Boston Globe reported that, as a youth, Maldonado had minor brushes with the law, but nothing serious.
In Methuen, Maldonado started attending the Selimiye Mosque, where he asked to learn about Islam and converted in 2000. He took an Arab surname, calling himself Daniel Aljughaifi. Another member, Matthew Yusuf Trombly, who also converted to Islam from Christianity, said of Maldonado after his arrest on terrorism charges that he "fell victim to 'the zeal of the convert'." Members of the mosque feared Maldonado's actions would cause people to think ill of Islam.
According to the Boston Globe, Maldonado's views became so extreme that the imam of the mosque asked the young man either to stop criticizing the other members, or to leave. His friend Soner Uguz of Lawrence, Massachusetts, said:
- "He was arrogant; he knew the book better than anyone, He went from loving rap to hating poetry."
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