ISIS Reportedly Beheads Florida Journalist Steven Sotloff

A second American journalist has reportedly been beheaded at the hands of the ISIS terrorist group.

This time a video reported released by ISIS depicts the beheading of Florida journalist Steven Sotloff. The video is titled “A second message to America,” according to CNN. Journalist James Foley’s execution was also filmed by ISIS and released to the Internet in August.

In this latest video, a black-garbed man, believed to be the same one responsible for beheading Foley, is seen with Sotloff.

Sotloff, dressed in a prison-type orange jumpsuit, said he was “paying the price” for America’s intervention in the Middle East, moments prior to beheading.

The ISIS representative is believed to be former British rapper Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, 24, according to AOL.

“I’m back, Obama, and I’m back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State,” the man says on the video. He went on to say that America’s “insistence on continuing your bombings on Mosul Dam” are to blame.

Sotloff’s death comes only days following a plea from his mother, Shirley Sotloff, to ISIS for her son’s release.

“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 Sotloff said in her own video to ISIS. “He is an honorable man and has always tried to help the weak.”

Steven Sotloff, 31, grew up in South Florida and was a former journalism student at the University of Central Florida. He worked for Time magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, World Affairs and other news outlets during his career.

Sotloff was reported missing last August while he was working on assignment in Syria.

It is unclear how the White House will respond to this latest beheading. The authenticity of the video is still being determined by State Department officials, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

“If the video is genuine, we are sickened by this brutal act, taking the life of another innocent American citizen,” the Times quoted State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki as saying.

The man shown with Sotloff in the video, however, promised, “Just as your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people,” according to AOL.

This latest video also shows another captive, David Cawthorne Haines, of Great Britain. Haines was also in a kneeling position while the man in black warned other governments to “back off and leave our people alone,” The Washington Post reported.

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Photo Credit: Screenshot of Steven Sotloff