Shawn Gregoire wants answers about her son's death.
Gregoire's son, Army Spc. Isaiah Nance, was killed last summer by an Afghan soldier being trained by the U.S. military. On Saturday, she learned through social media about reports that the U.S. government may have known for months about possible Russian bounty payments to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan.
"I would like for someone to be held accountable for this," said Gregoire. "Considering that my son Isaiah was killed during an insider attack and it's almost been a year later and I don't have any reports on the final findings, I can't help but wonder if his death was caused by this."
Gregoire emphasizes that she has no evidence either supporting or refuting the possibility that the purported bounty payments might have played a role in the attack where her son died. But she believes the matter should be investigated. And she bristled at President Donald Trump's tweets this week, suggesting the entire matter might be a hoax.
"I don't think we should be taking this as a hoax, and somebody needs to look into it," she told NBC 5. "Everything can't be a hoax!"
The 24-year-old Nance was new to Afghanistan when he and another soldier were killed in the July 29 attack. Gregoire said he had spoken of being a soldier since he was 12 years old.
"He was just that guy who was generous and upbeat and keeping everybody together," she said. "It was just his calling."
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NBC News reports the White House and top National Security Council officials learned about intelligence indicating Russia was offering bounties on U.S. troops in early 2019, well over a year before President Trump claimed no one had briefed him about the matter.
That report puts the information inside the government a month before an April car bomb attack that killed three U.S. Marines. And four months before the attack where Nance died.
Republican congressman Michael McCaul of Texas said top administration officials told lawmakers Monday that no one had been killed as a result of the reported bounty offer. But other U.S. officials say the intelligence is unclear.
"I would like to know, if the White House was informed -- it seems they did -- why wasn't anything done or precautions taken, and why weren't we notified," Gregoire asks. "If they had known about this, maybe they could have been on high alert, maybe they could have changed the ways they went out on missions."
Even if her son didn't fall victim to a bounty offer, Gregoire said she worries about others who have died in Afghanistan.
"The mom in me aches for everyone who suffered last year, and even before that and after that," she said. "There definitely needs to be some action taken for this. I mean to put bounties on U.S. soldiers' heads? Something needs to be done."
