Questions linger over Chattanooga shooting
July 19, 2015
The FBI on Saturday warned against jumping to conclusions after Michael McCaul, chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, claimed the assault had been inspired by "Islamic State" (IS).
"At this time, we have no indication that he was inspired by or directed by anyone other than himself," FBI special agent Ed Reinhold said, referring to Abdulazeez. "We obviously want to know what his thoughts were and who else he was associating with."
The FBI was working to reconstruct what happened at the two military sites, an Armed Forces Recruiting Station and a Navy Operations Support Center, about 7 miles apart (11 kilometers) apart.
Abdulazeez drove from the recruitment center, where he had opened fire at the exterior, in a convertible Mustang to the navy base, where he began his killing spree in earnest. Four Marines died at the time of the attack, which the 24-year-old carried out using two rifles and a handgun. Kuwaiti-born Abdulazeez was not wearing body armor, but a vest that allowed him to carry additional rounds of ammunition.
Death toll mounts
A fifth victim, identified as sailor Randall Smith, died on Saturday of wounds sustained at the support center.
While a warrant had been served on Abdulazeez's family home on Thursday, FBI spokesman Jason Pack said on Saturday that no arrests have been made in the case.
Suspicions of a terrorist motive were deepened by the revelation on Friday that Abdulazeez had traveled to the Middle East in 2014 for several months, with investigators looking into his movements.
According to the Reuters news agency, Abdulazeez had sent close friend a message with a link to an Islamic verse about war just hours ahead of the attack. "Whosoever shows enmity to a friend of mine, then I have declared war against him," read one line of a verse.
The electrical engineering graduate's friends said he returned from a trip to Jordan in 2014 concerned about conflicts in the Middle East and the reluctance of the US and other countries to become involved.
rc/gsw (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)