The brother of one of the Marines who died during last year’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan killed himself at a shrine to his fallen brother.

On August 9, Dakota Halverson, 28, took his life nearly a year after a suicide bomber in Afghanistan took his brother’s life.

Halverson’s brother, Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, 20, was one of the 13 American troops that were killed when an ISIS-K suicide bomber detonated an explosive outside the Kabul airport while US service members were overseeing the emergency evacuation of thousands of Americans and Afghan allies.

Shana Chappell with sons Dakota Halverson (left) and Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui (right)

Leading up to his death, Dakota had “been talking a lot lately about how he just wants to be with Kareem, how much he misses him,” according to the boys’ mother, Shana Chappell.

Last Tuesday, the devastated mother posted to social media, saying, “This morning my son Dakota went to be with His brother Kareem.”

A few days later, Chappell posted again, saying “Dakota had been expressing some of the things that had been bothering him and one of those things was the loss of his brother Kareem”.

Shana Chappell and son Dakota Halverson

“He was still having a hard time believing he was actually gone,” she added. “He’d sneak into the cemetery at night and sleep on Kareem’s resting place.”

“He took his life across from a permanent memorial we have here in town for his brother Kareen.”

The ‘Fallen 13’ memorial in Norco, California where Dakota Halverson took his life

“I’m not gonna make this a political post, but this is the ripple effect!” wrote Chappell, who has previously blamed Biden for the death of Kareem in August 2021.

Following the death of her first son during the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, Chappell took to social media to share her belief that Biden is to blame for the tragic loss of life.

Instagram ended up removing her account from its platform after a lengthy post in which she condemned Biden for his actions as president and said her son’s blood is on his hands.

“You turned your back on my son, on all of our Heros!!!” wrote Chappell. “MY SON’S BLOOD IS ON YOUR HANDS!!! All 13 of them, their blood is on your hands!”

After her account was removed from Instagram, Chappell turned to Facebook, refusing to be silenced.

“It seems Instagram took it upon themselves to delete my account… I am assuming it was because I gained so many followers over my son’s death due to Biden’s negligence, ignorance, and him being a traitor,” she wrote on Facebook. “I’m gonna assume that Facebook is gonna delete me next! Funny how these leftist one-sided pieces of crap don’t want the truth to come out!”

After Chappell’s story circulated around the media, Facebook, which owns Instagram, reactivated her social media account and released a statement apologizing for the initial censorship.

“We express our deepest condolences to Ms. Chappell and her family,” the statement read. “Her tribute to her heroic son does not violate any of our policies. While the post was not removed, her account was incorrectly deleted and we have since restored it.”

Chappell is still in shock over the second tragedy to befall her within a year, saying she doesn’t know how she is going to pull through this.

Kareem Nikoui’s burial site

A GoFundMe page has raised over $38,600 – well surpassing its goal of $20,000 – to help bury Dakota next to his brother.

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