Keith Broomfield of Bolton died on June 3 during a battle in a Syrian village named Qentere, near the border town Kobani, according to a spokesman for the YPG, a Kurdish group fighting the Islamic State in Syria.

BOLTON — Neighbors and family in the hometown of a Massachusetts man who was killed earlier this month in Syria while fighting Islamic State militants expressed sadness Wednesday night after learning of the loss of the member of a well-known local family.

Broomfield was fighting alongside the Kurds. He is likely the first US citizen to die fighting with the group against the Islamic State.


The Broomfields are a staple in the Bolton community, neighbors said.

Randy Batson has lived in Bolton for 23 years, and said he is a friend of the Broomfields but did not know Keith personally. He described the Broomfields as a “good Christian family.”

“Someone like that is pretty brave to go,” Batson said of Keith. “It’s sad when you know the family and what they’re going through.”

Batson said the Broomfields have lived in his neighborhood since he came to Bolton.

“I admire someone who would do that out of the strength of their conviction,” he said. “It’s a just cause.”

The family has a manufacturing company called Broomfield Laboratories on Still River Road in Bolton. A spokeswoman for Bolton police confirmed Wednesday night that the Broomfield family owns a local business.

The Broomfield family home also sits on Still River Road, near the company’s office. No one answered the door at the house on Wednesday night. Some of Broomfield’s family also lives in Westminster, neighbors said.

Jennifer and Kristen Broomfield, who identified themselves as Keith’s sisters, posted photos and statements on Facebook Wednesday.

“I’ll be missing you,” Kristen wrote. “Love you brother.”

Jennifer Broomfield posted a screenshot of the last texts she said she had with Keith.


“I appreciate your concern and take it as kindness,” Keith's text inside the gray bubble of an iPhone message read. “I’m gonna go do what I go to do. Sometimes you got to be a man wether (sic) you want to or not."

In a post above that text, Jennifer wrote on Wednesday, “My unspoken prayers and tears for those in the Middle East were answered when he left to fight. I didn’t think I would lose him. Please pray for peace.”

In Keith’s final text, he said, “I understand don’t worry about me. I got this.”

Broomfield’s family was being provided consular assistance in the wake of his death, according to Jeff Rathke, a US State Department spokesman. Typically consular assistance includes confirming the identity of the deceased, and issuing a report on their death, Rathke said during a Wednesday press briefing.

He confirmed that Broomfield died in Syria, but would not offer details.

The fight against Islamic State extremists has attracted many other Westerners, including Iraq war veterans who have made their way back to the Middle East to join Kurdish fighters, like the ones Broomfield joined.

Many fighters from Western countries are spurred on by Kurdish social media campaigns and a sense of duty rooted in the 2003 US-led military invasion of Iraq. Islamic State fighters in Iraq recently rolled back some of the gains that US troops made.

Kurdish fighters have typically been the most successful against the extremist group. Backed by US-led coalition airstrikes, Kurdish YPG fighters in Syria have successfully pushed back Islamic State militants from Kobani and many nearby villages. More recently, they have closed in on the Islamic State-held town of Tal Abyad, near the Turkish border.


The town is the Islamic State group’s main access point to Turkey from Raqqa, the group’s de facto capital in Syria.

A British citizen, an Australian, and a German woman have also been killed fighting with the Kurds.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report. Globe correspondent Alexandra Koktsidis contributed. M.G. Lee can be reached at matt.lee@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @m_g_lee. Sara DiNatale can be reached at sara.dinatale@globe.com.