4 Marines and gunman killed in attack on two US military sites

[webfact]

4 Marines and gunman die in attack on two military sites
LUCAS L. JOHNSON, Associated Press
KATHLEEN FOODY, Associated Press

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (AP) — A gunman unleashed a barrage of fire at a recruiting center and another U.S. military site a few miles apart in Chattanooga on Thursday, killing at least four Marines, officials said. The attacker was also killed.

Federal authorities said they were investigating the possibility it was an act of terrorism, and the FBI took charge of the case.

A U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity identified the gunman as 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez of Hixson, Tennessee, though the spelling of his first name was in dispute, with federal authorities and records giving at least four variations. The official said Abdulazeez was believed to have been born in Kuwait. It was unclear whether he was a U.S. or Kuwaiti citizen.

Another U.S. official said there was no indication Abdulazeez was on the radar of federal law enforcement before the shootings. The official was not authorized to discuss the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Lives have been lost from some faithful people who have been serving our country, and I think I join all Tennesseans in being both sickened and saddened by this," Gov. Bill Haslam said.

Within hours of the bloodshed, law officers with guns drawn swarmed what was believed to be Abdulazeez's house, and two females were led away in handcuffs.

A dozen law enforcement vehicles, including a bomb-squad truck and an open-sided Army green truck carrying armed men, rolled into the Colonial Shores neighborhood of Hixson, and police closed off streets and turned away people trying to reach their homes.

The shootings took places minutes apart, with the gunman stopping his car and spraying dozens of bullets first at a recruiting center for all branches of the military, then apparently driving to a Navy-Marine training center 7 miles (11 kilometers) away, authorities and witnesses said. The attacks were over within a half-hour.

Authorities would not say how the gunman died. FBI agent Ed Reinhold said Abdulazeez had "numerous weapons" but would not give details.

Four Marines were killed, the Marine Corps said. And a Navy sailor who was with them was seriously wounded, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

In addition, a Marine was wounded in the leg but not seriously hurt. And a police officer was shot in the ankle, Mayor Andy Berke said.

The names of the dead were not immediately released.

Reinhold said authorities were looking into whether it was domestic or international terrorism or "a simple criminal act."

Abdulazeez graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2012 with a bachelor's in electrical engineering and was a student intern a few years ago at the Tennessee Valley Authority, the federally owned utility that operates power plants and dams across the Sou

The U.S. National Counterterrorism Center is reporting no apparent nexus to terrorism has been uncovered in the investigation, but intelligence officials are monitoring the investigation closely. The Islamic State group has been encouraging extremists to carry out attacks in the U.S., and several such homegrown acts or plots have unfolded in recent months.

In Washington, President Barack Obama pledged a prompt and thorough investigation and said the White House had been in touch with the Pentagon to make sure military installations are being vigilant.

"It is a heartbreaking circumstance for these individuals who served our country with great valor to be killed in this fashion," he said.

Vice President Joe Biden likewise said: "Their families have already given a lot to the country, and now this."

The shootings began at the recruiting center on Old Lee Highway, where a shot rang out around 10:30 or 10:45 a.m., followed a few seconds later by more fire, said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Dodge, leader of Army recruiting at the center.

He and his comrades dropped to the ground and barricaded themselves in a safe place. Dodge estimated there were 30 to 50 shots fired. Doors and glass were damaged at the neighboring Air Force, Navy and Marine offices, he said.

Law enforcement officials told recruiters that the gunman stopped his car in front of the recruiting station, shot at the building and drove off, said Brian Lepley, a spokesman with the U.S. Army Recruiting Command in Fort Knox, Kentucky.

The recruiting center sits in a short strip mall, between a cellphone business and an Italian restaurant, with no apparent special security.

The gunman opened fire next at the Navy Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center Chattanooga. All the dead were killed there.

The center is in an industrial area that includes a Coca-Cola bottling plant. The two entrances to the fenced facility have unmanned gates and concrete barriers that require approaching cars to slow down to drive around them.

Marilyn Hutcheson, who works at Binswanger Glass across the street, said she heard a barrage of gunfire around 11 a.m.

"I couldn't even begin to tell you how many," she said. "It was rapid-fire, like pow-pow-pow-pow-pow, so quickly. The next thing I knew, there were police cars coming from every direction."

She ran inside, and she and other employees and a customer waited it out with the doors locked. The gunfire continued with occasional bursts for what she estimated was 20 minutes. Bomb squads, SWAT teams and other local, state and federal authorities rushed to the scene.

"If it was a grievance or terroristic related, we just don't know," she said.
___

Associated Press writer Ted Bridis and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington; Travis Loller and Kristin M. Hall in Nashville; and Rebecca Reynolds Yonker and Claire Galofaro in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-07-17

[Mosha]

Perp named on BBC as one Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez

[HeijoshinCool]

… Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez of Hixson, Tennessee ...

Geez, how the immigration "laws" have changed the face of America.

Last time I was in Tennessee, most guys were named Billy Bob, or Larry, or Clyde.

[sdanielmcev]

I'm waiting for the outrage from Muslims...............

[Berkshire]

It's still pretty early, but indications are that he was radicalized via the internet. So we have a country where everyone has free and unfettered access to social media, guns are easy to obtain, and the NSA has been defanged by Edward Snowden et al. More of the same coming?

[55Jay]

Wait? This is muslim outrage. At least a certain segment of them.

[Loptr]

Making military bases in the US "no gun zones" is by definition, insane...

[canuckamuck]

Of course none of this had anything to do with Islam.

[Suradit69]

It's still pretty early, but indications are that he was radicalized via the internet. So we have a country where everyone has free and unfettered access to social media, guns are easy to obtain, and the NSA has been defanged by Edward Snowden et al. More of the same coming?

Maybe there needs to be a sub-forum of the World News forum for weekly (daily?) reports of gun violence in the US ... and the usual denials that there's any possible connection between lax gun control laws/enforcement and the frequent use of guns to cull the population.

[sotsira]

It's still pretty early, but indications are that he was radicalized via the internet. So we have a country where everyone has free and unfettered access to social media, guns are easy to obtain, and the NSA has been defanged by Edward Snowden et al. More of the same coming?

Without question this is a new problem that the western world now has to deal with,

just look at the recent events in Tunisia, London and Paris.

Every western country is under threat by these radicalised terrorists!

Edited July 17, 2015 by sotsira

[ukrules]

With all the recent FBI entrapment / sting ops you'd have thought they would have this kind of thing under control by now.

They've been making arrests every few weeks lately.

I do wonder if they concentrated on real threats instead of imaginary ones then maybe they would get better results.

Still, I guess that's up to them and this is the path they've chosen to go down.

[55Jay]

It's still pretty early, but indications are that he was radicalized via the internet. So we have a country where everyone has free and unfettered access to social media, guns are easy to obtain, and the NSA has been defanged by Edward Snowden et al. More of the same coming?

Maybe there needs to be a sub-forum of the World News forum for weekly (daily?) reports of gun violence in the US ... and the usual denials that there's any possible connection between lax gun control laws/enforcement and the frequent use of guns to cull the population.

It's most often the low end of the gene pool culling themselves, so wannabe misanthropes ought to be thrilled.

[SheungWan]

With all the recent FBI entrapment / sting ops you'd have thought they would have this kind of thing under control by now.

They've been making arrests every few weeks lately.

I do wonder if they concentrated on real threats instead of imaginary ones then maybe they would get better results.

Still, I guess that's up to them and this is the path they've chosen to go down.

Specious comment of the week.

[JakeSully]

The gunman was a native of Kuwait who arrived on a student visa. He is NOT an American Citizen.

Probably got annoyed that he had to get a green card to work legally.

[JakeSully]

… Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez of Hixson, Tennessee ...

Geez, how the immigration "laws" have changed the face of America.

Last time I was in Tennessee, most guys were named Billy Bob, or Larry, or Clyde.

Not immigration to blame. He was on a student visa, just like the 9-11 hijackers.

The US embassy in Jordan is to blame though, they issued the visa.

Lastly, plenty of people in Tennessee named Mr. Singh who you meet at Gas Stations/ 7 11's, and they don't go around shooting people in the land of their adopted nation. My point being.. there is good immigration.. and 99% is good. You wouldn't be using a USB mouse/ charger without immigration.. the guy who invented it arrived in the US from India.

But there's some that slip through the cracks and people start thinking xeno phobia. All you need to look at how they became radicalized.. like the son of a Boston Police Captain that wanted to bomb a university in the name of Islam but his own father turned him in.

Edited July 17, 2015 by JakeSully

[55Jay]

It's still pretty early, but indications are that he was radicalized via the internet. So we have a country where everyone has free and unfettered access to social media, guns are easy to obtain, and the NSA has been defanged by Edward Snowden et al. More of the same coming?

Without question this is a new problem that the western world now has to deal with,

just look at the recent events in Tunisia, London and Paris.

Every western country is under threat by these radicalised terrorists!

This is an age old problem. Nothing new at all. Hampsters on a squeaky exercise wheel, oiled with the blood of martyrs.

[Scott]

If someone has a student visa are they allowed to possess a gun?

[JakeSully]

If someone has a student visa are they allowed to possess a gun?

If he bought it at a gun show, he doesn't even need to fill out paperwork. Courtesy of the NRA lobbyists.

Edited July 17, 2015 by JakeSully

[daoyai]

If someone has a student visa are they allowed to possess a gun?

early report on CNN said he was a naturalized US citizen... maybe an error but that was the report.

[NeverSure]

If someone has a student visa are they allowed to possess a gun?

Scott, they have to have permanent resident status and then comply with all other laws.

[Loptr]

If someone has a student visa are they allowed to possess a gun?

If he bought it at a gun show, he doesn't even need to fill out paperwork. Courtesy of the NRA lobbyists.

Hogwash...

[Loptr]

Of course none of this had anything to do with Islam.

Of course not...

Read Chattanooga Shooter’s Blog

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/07/16/read-chattanooga-shooter-s-blog.html

[Emster23]

I do not condone this attack in any way, ok? But can hardly expect to have zero casualties in US forces while routinely carrying out drone strikes in several countries in the Middle East. Rather childish to assume the other side is just going to sit there and take it.

[geriatrickid]

Making military bases in the US "no gun zones" is by definition, insane...

This wasn't a military base. It was a recruiting office in a strip mall. Personnel are not visibly armed. I anticipate that some will now have concealed weapons going forward.

[sammygood]

USA is getting a taste of real muslims, the kind that started to invade europe 20+ years ago

[JakeSully]

From Huffington Post:

Abdulazeez lived in Hixxon — a town near Chattanooga — and was born in Kuwait. A congressional source told The New York Times that he was a naturalized U.S. citizen.

[JDGRUEN]

In my opinion the Obama Administration are letting far too many risky people into America... Political Correctness raises its ugly head again... The Obama Admin wouldn't say NO to Attila the Hun ... No matter the lessons that should have been learned from 9-11 and a dozens serious incidents since.

[DLang]

You reap what you sow............

RIP to the victims.

[Farma]

Making military bases in the US "no gun zones" is by definition, insane...

This wasn't a military base. It was a recruiting office in a strip mall. Personnel are not visibly armed. I anticipate that some will now have concealed weapons going forward.

The gunman then drove off to a Naval Reserve Center about 6 miles (10 km) away, fatally shooting the four Marines before being shot and killed in a firefight with police.

[JDGRUEN]

Making military bases in the US "no gun zones" is by definition, insane...

This wasn't a military base. It was a recruiting office in a strip mall. Personnel are not visibly armed. I anticipate that some will now have concealed weapons going forward.

They are not allowed to carry weapons - concealed or not -- while on duty..