Chattanooga: A gunman opened fire on a military recruiting station after which he ran to a second nearby military base, killing four United States marines before he was gunned down by the police.
The shooting started at the military recruiting centre on Old Lee Highway Road, where the suspect fired about 25 to 30 shots before he got into his car and drove 7 miles to the the Navy Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center Chattanooga, where he killed the 4 Marines, the entire scene unfolded in under 30 minutes. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has identified the gunman as Mohammod Youssef Abdulazeez, a naturalised US citizen who went to school in Chattanooga. Abdulazeez hadn't been under the federal authorities' radar, however, his father was investigated for funding an organisation with possible terrorist ties.
SITE Intelligence Group said Abdulazeez had recently posted Islam centred writings in two different blogs; in one of which he called life “short and bitter” and the other said Muslims should not miss “the opportunity to submit to Allah.”
The attacks on the army recruitment base and the naval reserve facility come as the highest profile episode of violence at domestic military installations after 2014, when three people were killed and more than a dozen were wounded at Fort Hood.
In what has become an unnervingly familiar and frequent sight, US President Barack Obama offered his condolences to the families of the deceased. “My main message right now is, obviously, the deepest sympathies of the American people to the four Marines that have been killed. It is a heartbreaking circumstance for these individuals, who have served our country with great valor, to be killed in this fashion.”
How the suspect died has not been revealed by the authorities but reports from forensic investigations confirm the 24 year old was shot by the police. The US National Counterterrorism Centre said it has nothing so far to connect him to any terror organisation, but intelligence officials are monitoring the investigation closely.
