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ISIS Beheads Former UCF Student and Second American Journalist

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The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has beheaded another American Journalist, Steven Sotloff, in less than a month.

James Foley, fellow American Journalist and a video reporter who was abducted November 22, 2012 from northwestern Syria, was killed by the ISIS in August 2014.

Sotloff, former University of Central Florida student and freelancer for Time and Foreign Policy magazines, was last seen in an online video that showed the beheading of Foley. A masked ISIS militant in the video had warned U.S. authorities to stop air strikes on the group in Iraq or Sotloff would face a similar fate.

In a new video distributed Tuesday, titled "A Second Message to America", Sotloff appears in an orange jumpsuit saying that he is "paying the price" for U.S. intervention before being beheaded by an Islamic State fighter, Click Orlando reports.

A masked ISIS figure in the new video sends a strong message to U.S. President Barack Obama saying, "Just as your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people."

Shirley Sotloff, Sotloff's mother, pleaded ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to grant him pardon in a video, released last week.

"Steven is a journalist who traveled to the Middle East to cover the suffering of Muslims at the hands of tyrants. Steven is a loyal and generous son, brother and grandson," Shirley said, "He is an honorable man and has always tried to help the weak."

Sotloff will be honored by UCF students, who have organized a vigil Wednesday, 9:00 p.m., at the Reflection Pond on campus. "Our UCF family mourns Steven's death, and we join millions of people around the world who are outraged at this despicable and unjustifiable act," said UCF President John C. Hitt.

"Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Steven Sotloff. Let there be no doubt, we must go after ISIS right away because the U.S. is the only one that can put together a coalition to stop this group that's intent on barbaric cruelty," said U.S. Senator (D-Fla.) Bill Nelson.

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