Navy SEAL killed by ISIS was grandson of disgraced financier Keating

A Navy SEAL who was the grandson of infamous financier Charles Keating was killed Tuesday by ISIS warriors while fighting in northern Iraq.

Charlie Keating IV, who lived outside Phoenix, became the third American serviceman to die in combat in Iraq since the US-led coalition launched its campaign against ISIS in the summer of 2014, according to military officials.

He was killed in an ISIS attack near the city of Irbil.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey ordered all state flags lowered to half-staff from sunrise to sunset Wednesday in honor of Keating, who also was the cousin of former Olympic swimming champion Gary Hall Jr.

Keating’s grandfather, Charles H. Keating Jr., who died in 2014 at age 90, served prison time for his role in the 1980s savings-and-loan scandal.

Charlie Keating, 31, attended the Naval Academy before becoming a Navy SEAL based out of San Diego.

A 2004 graduate of Phoenix’s Arcadia High School, Keating was city and regional champion in the 1,600-meter run as a sophomore, junior and senior.

Rob Reniewicki, Keating’s former track coach at Arcadia, said he had kept in touch with him through Facebook over the years, and he was heartbroken by the news.

“He was a tremendous athlete, a tremendous person. I’m devastated. I’m crushed. I’m trying to hold myself together,” Reniewicki told Phoenix TV station KTVK.

Keating was planning to get married in November, Reniewicki said.

Keating earned all-city and first-team all-state honors as a senior, according to Indiana University, where he ran cross country and track on scholarship.

According to the Arizona Republic, Keating was known as C-4 because he had the same name as three generations before him.

With AP