A widening plot? “LIVE UPDATES: FBI raids shooting suspect’s house, two women led out in handcuffs,” Times Free Press, July 16, 2015:
The FBI is investigating two brazen attacks on military facilities in Chattanooga in which four Marines were killed, leading to lockdowns at the Army Recruiting Center on Lee highway as well as the Naval and Marine Reserve Center at the Chattanooga Riverpark, as well as local hospitals.
The attacks, which were mere minutes apart, began when a single shooter, identified as 24-year-old Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, drove a silver Ford Mustang convertible to a Lee Highway recruiting center at 10:45 a.m and fired more than a dozen rounds into the building. After his initial barrage, he led responding police officers on a high-speed chase down Amnicola Highway to a second military installation, where he opened fire again and was killed after a gun battle that one witness estimated lasted 20 minutes.
Three victims were rushed to Erlanger’s Trauma Center, including a Chattanooga police officer and two members of the military. One of those patients was discharged from Erlanger this afternoon; the other two are still being treated. Including the victim, the violence claimed five lives, with three more wounded.
Officials have said the shooter died during the attack, though they did not say how he died. During the attack on Amnicola Highway, numerous Chattanooga and Hamilton County officers “actively and enthusiastically” engaged the suspect, said Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher.
The motive behind the attack, which the FBI said came without warning, is still under investigation. A U.S. official said there was no indication Abdulazeez was on the radar of federal law enforcement before the shootings, according to the Associated Press….
U.S. Attorney Bill Killian said during a press conference that he would classify the violence as an “act of domestic terrorism.”
Witnesses at both the Amnicola and Lee Highway sites reported hearing multiple gunshots in each case, with the installation at Amnicola Highway seeing the bulk of the violence. Shortly after the shooting, blue markers littered the ground outside the recruiting station on Lee Highway where shots were fired, and police completely blocked off Amnicola Highway to traffic.
A photo taken after the attack from a helicopter and posted on Twitter showed the shooter’s Ford Mustang with doors opened, parked next to a bent gate that was positioned in such a way that it appeared to have been rammed by his vehicle.
A sign on the outside of the Lee Highway location had a “no guns allowed” sign posted. During the news conference, the FBI confirmed that guns were generally prohibited at federal facilities.
Carolyn Taylor, who works at Binswanger Glass across Amnicola Highway from the incident site, said she heard what sounded like over 100 gunshots….
Abdulazeez was believed to have been born in Kuwait, and it was unclear whether he was a U.S. or Kuwaiti citizen. It was not immediately clear whether the gunman’s first name was spelled Muhammad or Mohammad.
Abdulazeez is from Hixson, Tennessee, which is just a few miles across the river from Chattanooga. He was booked for a DUI in April 2015. A man named Youssuf Abdulazeez attended UTC, spokesman Chuck Cantrell said, and graduated in 2012 with a degree in engineering.
Abdulazeez was a student intern for TVA five years ago while he was at UTC. He did not work at either of the facilities he attacked, according to the FBI.
He wrestled in high school and became an MMA fighter afterward, according to Ryan Smith, who was a year behind Abdulazeez at Red Bank High School. Abdulazeez’s family was very religious, Smith said. The women in Abdulazeez’s family wore traditional Islam head coverings, Smith said.
A reporter saw a SWAT team and FBI agents staging at a strip mall in Hixson near the shooter’s house. The house, which Hamilton County records is owned by Youssuf S. Abdulazeez, is appraised at $206,100 by the Hamilton County Assessor of Property. Police in Hixson kicked a reporter out of the neighborhood that contained a house apparently owned by Abdulazeez. However, the Associated Press reported that two women were led out in handcuffs.
Abdulazeez allegedly killed four Marines and shot one police officer in the attack at Amnicola Highway. A soldier and a police officer were wounded in the attack, according to the Associated Press. Dennis Pedigo, a Chattanooga police officer, is in stable condition.
Abdulazeez’s father, Youssuf Abdullazeez, was appointed as a “special policeman” for Chattanooga’s Department of Public Works in March 2005. …
tilda says
“Abdulazeez’s father, Youssuf Abdullazeez, was appointed as a “special policeman” for Chattanooga’s Department of Public Works in March 2005. …”
There might be a bit more to the father. The Daily Mail says (without much elaboration);
“His father was once investigated for being on a terrorist ‘watch list”
and
“His father was appointed as a ‘special policeman’ for local public works in 2005, but it has been revealed he was investigated several years ago because of possible links to terrorism.“
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3164725/My-causes-national-security-alerts-does-humble-Muslim-high-school-wrestler-engineering-graduate-wrote-yearbook-mass-murderer.html
Angemon says
tilda posted:
“There might be a bit more to the father. The Daily Mail says (without much elaboration);
“His father was once investigated for being on a terrorist ‘watch list” ”
Something about apples falling and trees, right?
tilda says
Indeed…all those lone apples.
Of course, if all those lone apples are falling from trees in an orchard then it might be time to bring out the cider press.
Huck Folder says
Heard of crab apples, and road apples, but not wolf apples.
Clay says
The police can’t protect us from instances like this. It is not their fault. They can’t be everywhere at once. Individuals are going to have to take it upon themselves to protect their live.
The jihadist are great at killing defenseless people. They are incompetent when it comes to fighting and winning against people who will fight back. That is why they love soft targets.
This will stop when some jihadist try’s something like what just happened and a mess of citizens pull out their firearms and fill him full of holes
Will Doohan says
…and his father was a “special policeman”.
Translation – jihadist infiltrator…
Hmm.. I wonder how many of them there are in our police forces, military forces, intelligemce agencies? Oh that’s right… Im not allowed to ask that because that would be “islamophobic”.
Ruby says
Anyone that works at a military recruiting facility or is open to the public must be allowed to be armed. It is asinine to put these people in a sitting duck situation.
mortimer says
The jihadists are hiding among the Muslim population. Is there any way to identify them? No.
Can we then reasonably trust any Muslim? No.
It is safest to assume that every Muslim is a jihadist. It is safest for medical people to assume everyone has AIDS.
Michael W. Stevenson says
I wonder if anyone at DHS has noted this guy, a trained electrical engineer, worked for a while at the TVA. TVA supplies electrical power to millions of people located in TN, KY, N. Georgia, and other nearby places. As an electrical engineer, he was in a position to analyze the entire grid and locate those sites that would be most vulnerable to sabotage. No doubt he would have been in communication with others to whom this information would be imparted.
Tom Washburn says
U.S. Attorney Bill Killian said during a press conference that he would classify the violence as an “act of domestic terrorism.”
Remember our buddy Bill Killian? He’s the idiot who held a meeting in Manchester, Tennessee, declaring that offensive speech against Muslims could be against US law. Please note that he had to backtrack on his terrorist statement … otherwise, he would have to bring charges against himself for hate speech.
Cecilia Ellis says
“Abdulazeez’s family was very religious . . . The women in Abdulazeez’s family wore traditional Islam head coverings . . .”
– Another devout Muslim family . . . jihad alert!
“The motive behind the attack, which the FBI said came without warning, is still under investigation.’
– Guess that 7-month overseas travel to Jordan by Abdulazeez can’t bring anything to mind . . . yes, the search is on for answers . . .
“Abdulazeez’s father, Youssuf Abdullazeez, was appointed as a “special policeman” for Chattanooga’s Department of Public Works in March 2005. …”
– The obviously perfect job for someone who was on the terror watch list at one time . . .
For the victims, their families and friends, my heart is saddened. To all those who serve or who have served in our armed forces, thank you for all you have done to defend this country. For those who have served or currently serve in the law enforcement arena, thank you for your daily standing on the front lines to protect our citizens. May God bless you with an awareness that we are grateful for the gift you give.
particolor says
I think those people in the Departments mentioned could Sue the Government for leaving them Unprotected in these Times of Danger ! And never mind the “It Had Nothing To Do With Islam ” CRAP !! They are Everywhere Among Us ! And the Government KNOWS That Very Well !! 🙁
dlbrand says
“… four Marines were killed, leading to lockdowns at the Army Recruiting Center on Lee highway as well as the Naval and Marine Reserve Center at the Chattanooga Riverpark, ….”
Victims of a nation wherein far too many grip to foolishness, when it comes to dealing with the facts of Islam and those who live guided by that belief system. So too the inescapable harvest of allowing an enemy within our borders.
Who is that enemy—if anyone is actually still that unread on Islam: read the “sacred texts” of Islam, study the traditions and the life of the so called prophet of Islam, and you will clearly see, until we are, in total, a Muhammad honoring nation, we are Qur’an-identified as the “clear enemy” of every Muhammad praiser and follower.
These killings today are nothing more, nothing less than fruits of Islam. Fruits of following the teachings and traditions of the so-called prophet.
All who state this individual’s actions, the carnage secondary to them, and the actions of other devout Muslims kin to theses belong to anything other than basic Islam—as the “prophet” taught it, commanded it, provided ample examples for it—only aid and abet this enemy.
Get ready for the next … it will come. The only uncertainty is, when, where, weapon used, names and number of the dead and wounded, name of the perpetrator, as one more “believer,” fulfills his Muhammad-crafted contract with Muhammad’s Allah.
Most who knew yesterday’s featured jihadist knew he was a good devout Muslim—and they are shocked, they assert, that he tended to the details of his faith…
One more time, we ignore the overwhelming profound stupidity in the illusions, and the assertion of no one but a fool: “we are fighting them over there so we do not have to fight them here.”
Once more, we gather up our dead and wounded like cord-wood. Clean up the scene. Take a deep breath, and embrace our local Muslim community—because it is them, we are informed, we need, if we stand any chance of winning this war.
Therefore, we concur, this is the price we have signed on to pay, these are therefore losses we agree to absorb, and count worth such an expense, to protect the right of the followers of Muhammad to live among us; and to do so, with the freedom to practice the tenets of their faith.
Kepha says
CNN and the other networks are wondering about Abdulazeez’s motives. Hmmmph. I want to read or hear more about other persons invovlved in the case; but at this point, I’m pretty sure that the MSM and official spokescritters are lying through their teeth when they say that motive is “unclear” rather than jihad.
Sam says
I am still wondering if these attacks have something to do with Islam. Everybody says it is not Islam, it is not Islam. I am getting “” just a bit, not much” suspicious that Islam may have something to do with constant killing Americans and others. What do you think?
dumbledoresarmy says
To paraphrase Shakespeare, methinks they do protest too much…
dlbrand says
Sam said: ” …. I am getting “” just a bit, not much” suspicious that Islam may have something to do with constant killing Americans and others.”
Control yourself, Sam. Resist the temptation to fall victim to the Islamaphobia. It is, once one succumbs to it, a “condition” tough to escape.