CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) – A Marine with New England roots was killed last week in Iraq, military officials announced Monday.

Marine Lance Cpl. Dimitrios Gavriel, 29, was a wrestling champion and honors student who graduated from Timberlane Regional High School in Plaistow, N.H., in 1993. His family now live in Haverhill, Mass.

Gavriel was based at Camp LeJeune, N.C., and was killed Friday in intense fighting outside Fallujah, military officials said.

He was working as a broker on Wall Street when two of his friends died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. He quit his job and joined the Marines last year.

Relatives said he had to talk his way into the Marines because of old wrestling injuries.

Gavriel was a heavyweight wrestler and the Timberlane wrestling team’s captain. He attended Brown University.