Horror in Chattanooga today—four Marines dead, a soldier and police officer wounded, and a city in chaos.
Five people have died after a lone attacker unleashed a spray of gunfire at two separate military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
CNN (as well as every other mainstream media outlet) are running live updates:
Four Marines were killed in Thursday’s shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a senior defense official told CNN’s Barbara Starr. The families of those killed are being notified of their deaths, the official said.
The suspected shooter is also dead, Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said
Investigators “have not determined whether it was an act of terrorism or whether it was a criminal act,” FBI special agent in charge Ed Reinhold told reporters. “We are looking at every possible avenue, whether it was terrorism — whether it was domestic, international — or whether it was a simple, criminal act.”
U.S. Attorney Bill Killian earlier told reporters that authorities were treating the shooting as an “act of domestic terrorism.”
The identity of the shooter has been confirmed:
JUST IN: #ChattanoogaShooting suspect ID'd as Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Kuwait – @PeteWilliamsNBC
— NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) July 16, 2015
BREAKING: Chattanooga shooting suspect identified as Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez: CBS, citing two law enforcement sources
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) July 16, 2015
You can watch live, local coverage here:
WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather
We will continue to update this post throughout the evening.
Updates
The NBC affiliate in Chattanooga has confirmed that Abdulazeez is in fact a naturalized U.S. citizen from Kuwait.
CBS News has witness statements:
A Marine recruiter was treated at a hospital for a gunshot wound to the leg, the Marine Corps said on its Facebook page.
“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.
The shootings began at a recruiting center on Old Lee Highway in Chattanooga where five branches of the military all have adjoining offices. A gunshot rang out around 10:30 or 10:45 a.m., said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Dodge, 36, the center leader for U.S. Army recruiting at the center.
“Shortly after that, just a few seconds, the shooter began shooting more rounds. We realized it was an actual shooting,” he said.
He and his colleagues then got on the ground and barricaded themselves in a safe place. Dodge estimated there were 30 to 50 shots fired.
He did not see the shooter or a vehicle. The Army recruiting office was not damaged, but doors and glass were damaged at the neighboring Air Force, Navy and Marine offices, he said.
After the shooting, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that it was “enhancing the security posture at certain federal facilities, out of an abundance of caution.”
Law enforcement officials told recruiters that the shooter was in a car, stopped in front of the facility, shot at the building and drove off, said Brian Lepley, a spokesman with the U.S. Army Recruiting Command in Fort Knox, Kentucky.
One witness told CBS affiliate WDEF that a man who was in a silver Mustang convertible was “just unloading a large gun on the Naval recruiting office.”
The Pentagon has addressed the security situation at its nationwide recruiting centers:
In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren addressed security measures at recruiting facilities around the country:
“We have our recruiting centers set up in places easily accessible to the public. For example, a strip mall. So security there is not what you’d see at a Ft. Bragg, a Norfolk Naval Air Station or at Quantico. So this is something we have to face. Security is not as extensive as it would be at a major installation. This is because we have to be in contact with the American public. We’re continuing to look into this incident, working very closely with both federal and local law enforcement agencies to determine exactly what happened and if we need to make any adjustments.”
A now-suspended ISIS-associated (by all appearances) Twitter account tweeted about the attacks this afternoon. (The timestamp is Pacific time—NOT local time. The tweet was not sent before or during the attacks.)
Here’s a screenshot of the Tweet taken from the same timezone—at 1:34 pm:
Counterterrorism officials have released an initial report showing no “nexus to terrorism” (at least for now):
Spokespeople at the TVA better eat their Wheaties—it’s going to be a long week:
The federally-owned Tennessee Valley Authority confirms to BuzzFeed News Chattanooga suspect was an intern there pic.twitter.com/DynSWsz42s
— Stephanie McNeal (@stephemcneal) July 16, 2015
The suspect’s former coach passed along an older photo of Abdulazeez:
Here's an older, undated photo of Abdulazeez, provided by a former coach. Photo likely 5 years old or so pic.twitter.com/cCaFBRel85
— Shelly Bradbury (@ShellyBradbury) July 16, 2015
The coach, Kevin Emily, gave an interview on CNN:
Kevin Emily, his former coach, told Burnett this was shocking to hear, since Abdulazeez was a “great student” who got along with everyone and was a very humble and respectful student.
Burnett asked about the role religion played in Abdulazeez’s life. Emily said he was fairly religious and asked to take a moment to pray during practice sometimes.
But as far as he’s concerned, there were “no red flags” about his behavior at all.
Earlier, law enforcement officials surrounded the family home and made arrests:
Law enforcement have swarmed the house in a neighborhood around a 15-minute drive away from the scene, believed to belong to Abdulazeez’s family.
Witnesses saw officers with weapons drawn at the house and two unidentified females were led away in handcuffs.
Government agencies are now trying to determine the motives behind his attack and whether he was inspired by ISIS.
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Comments
Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez targets military, kills 4 —- motive unknown.
well, you *know* how those Tea Party types are…
But had he ever seen a Confederate flag…???
Can’t be sure about that. But there are some Confederate monuments on Lookout and Signal Mountains. There is also a bronze plaque outside a building near the Chattanooga River walk which identifies the structure as the headquarters for a Confederate general during the siege of Chattanooga.
Not to mention, one of the roads was Lee Highway!
“Considering the recent events in Charleston on Calhoun Street, here we find ourselves with an event on a highway with a name again associated with a Confederate general.”
Connect the dots, people!!
/adjusts tin foil hat
Still investigating any and all connections to the Republican-erected glass ceiling.
Another tragedy from…er….for the Terrorist in the White House…….
It appears the Terrorist-in-Chief felt some form of congratulatory remarks were in order:
http://breaking911.com/4-marines-killed-white-house-releases-statement-wishing-muslims-a-happy-end-to-ramadan/
You’ve been cutting and pasting nearly identical versions of that diatribe of yours into comments sections around the web for well over a year now.
This is the Legal Insurrection Blog. We have higher standards here. If you’re that intent on spamming us, would it be too much to ask you to at least come up with some new material?
Please and thank you! xoo
(this was a reply to “questionman”, above, who originally posted the same comment three times – when his extra comments got deleted, this got orphaned)
Yeah it’s all Obama’s fault these radicals are killing people in the West who have been bombing Iraq, Iran, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and every other Middle Eastern country for the last what, 50 years?
You can expect people who are radicalized to think rationally. This is why it is mind-boggling that every Republican wants to scuttle the deal with Iran. What’s the option? Bombing them and hissing off more Muslims?
Sometime you get what you put out there in the world and now these whackos are fighting back.
Yep, No doubt about it. Obama haters are the biggest racists, bigots and extremists in the world today. This is ALL because he is black, nothing more and nothing less.
Typical racist scumbags resort to demeaning the black man in office because he respects ALL religion, but just ones dominated by white, christian, racists on the right, no wonder they keep prompting up Trump. He’s a racist, just like them.
Again, I admit that Obama lies. He’s a politican…All politicans lies, but what I won’t stand is that he is called a liar by the exact same hypocrites who lie about the President on a daily basis. They lie about his ideology, his birth place, his birth certificate, his religion, his layolity to America, and now, the way he beat Romney in the 2012 election.
He’s repaired our nation from the damage done by Bush and Cheney.
Is Barack Obama a Racist? No. Conservative racists are just projecting.
Is Barack Obama a Failure? No. Conservative failures are just projecting.
Is Barack Obama a Dictator? No. Conservative dictators are just projecting.
Is Barack Obama a Muslim? No. Obama has been a Christian for decades. Jeremiah was a reverend, not a mullah.
Is Barack Obama a Traitor? No. Conservative traitors are just projecting.
Is Barack Obama a Disgrace to America? No. Most Americans liked Obama enough to give him another 4 years as president.
Is Barack Obama a Marxist? No. The first step of a Marxist revolution is kill all the rich people. Obama hasn’t had any rich people killed yet.
Does Barack Obama hate America? No. Obama loves America. He knows he wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t an America.
Is Barack Obama destroying America? No. Republicans have thoroughly obstructed Obama’s agenda. Any destruction of America currently going on is therefore their responsibility.
Can Barack Obama be impeached? Yes, but it’s doubtful Republicans will try. Their last attempt to impeach a president backfired on them. And there isn’t nearly as much reason to impeach Obama.
Is Barack Obama a usurper? No. He was elected fairly. Republicans usurp the will of the American people by obstructing Obama’s agenda.
Obama is anything but a Socialist. He stands to the Right of Eisenhower and is trying very hard to save American Capitalism from its own stupidity. the racist right call Obama a Marxist, a socialist, a Communist, a Muslim because they can’t call him a Ni@@er! That’s what they mean! They can’t stand having a black in office. that this the cold hard truth!
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Well, looks like a duck, walks like a duck, talks like a duck, must be a Tea Party member, NOT!
domestic terrorism that ISIS tweeted about as it started, with a #Chattanooga hash tag…
https://twitter.com/th3j35t3r/status/621773533312643073
No they didn’t. That tweet was sent almost three hours after the attack began.
When you are logged in to Twitter, it shows tweets in your local time. When I look at the original of that tweet, I can see that it was sent at 1:34 EST (I am in the same time zone as Chattanooga).
See here –> http://imgur.com/0u9jooO
I did see that tweet, and I’m keeping an eye on it and will include it in an update. Amy is right, though—the timestamp on the screenshot floating around isn’t TN local time.
Whoever took the screenshot that’s been making the rounds was either logged in from the PDT timezone, or wasn’t logged in at all (and Twitter defaulted to PDT). The screenshot I posted was from my account, which is in the same timezone as TN (EDT).
I think the original tweet just disappeared, with the account suspended, otherwise I’d give the link and let people see for themselves. It was at https://twitter.com/K_H_O7777777777/status/621734561228177408
Mohammad factor: 100%.
We need more muslims; hurry hurry, obama.
Not to worry; he’s importing them as fast as he can.
Nonsense. Simply a workplace incident. No connection to anything whatsoever.
I realize that transgenders are the highest Pentagon priority at this time, but IMHO it is criminal negligence that these men exposed to armed assault are not themselves armed.
Sure, we have four dead Marines, but remember what’s really important here
. . . diversity!
Seriously, how many more Americans are going to have to die before we confront this scourge? The first WTC attacks weren’t enough; 9/11 wasn’t enough; the shoe-bomber attempts to take down a plane weren’t enough; the Ft. Hood massacre wasn’t enough; the Boston Marathon bombings weren’t enough . . . .
When will it finally be enough?
Liberal view update: listening to WABC-770, Friday morning, 11:15 AM, Geraldo Rivera show, believe substitute host, who said “should we allow military recruiters to be armed, when that will result in more suicides [of military recruiters] and more domestic violence [military recruiters shooting their wives]”.
How were his English skills? It was a gun-free zone. Apparently, he couldn’t read the sign.
What else needs to happen before it’s enough to resurrect common sense in this country?
Another Moozlem gone astray. Will the liberal media point out the sign on the front door? No guns zone. Another mass shooting where a sign says no guns allowed. Wouldn’t it be better to put a sign up, our personal are well armed even if they didn’t have any weapons in the place. At least it would have the shooter wondering if its smart to try and enter a place where the people inside might be armed? Why must we always advertise to the crazies that its a no guns allowed site? We should posts a no guns allowed site on the White House and disarm the secret service. If these brave marines were armed, then perhaps they might have had a chance. Blame the liberals and Obama’s love for Moozlems on this tragedy. We need a new sign to hang up everywhere. No Muslims Allowed in America.
Just like to point out that the shooter didn’t enter the premises, nor did his firearm. Just the boolits.
Virtually every government location is marked marked to the effect of “No Guns Allowed,” thus making all potential soft targets.
What could be easier for any interloper?
Before the usual morons begin screaming about banning guns, how about g banning Muslim immigrants instead? It ain’t Norwegians shooting up military installations.
Anyone see the “gun free zone” placard on those bullet-riddled doors?
Just like Fort Hood and the Navy Yard.
Our men and women in uniform are just sitting ducks in these places. It’s unbelievable.
They should all be allowed – and required – to carry fire arms, even while recruiting or just doing office work.
“If we had no guns and no military, those marines would still be alive, but since George Bush did nothing about global warming, we need immigration reform – on my terms alone – and right darn now. Racists who disagree with me need to sit down, shut up, and get to work for the unexceptional Americans who need our help, many of whom own puppies. Black puppies, I might add.” – President Barak Obama
If anyone spent more than 2-3 seconds wondering if the above was a legit quote, please check in below. The fact that such a quote is not immediately dismissable identifies the source of 90% of the problems in this country.
Reality wasn’t much better:
I’ll respect Islamists as soon as they start respecting me — and my right to exist.
Until then, I’ll keep supporting the right of Americans to refuse to allow any more Muslim immigration to the U.S.
Islam and western civilization are fundamentally incompatible, and it’s long past time that we admitted that fact and acted accordingly.
Obama is a ventriloquist you know. He can speak out of both ends.
That should come as no surprise, considering he also leads WITH his behind.
Maybe they needed a bigger “NO GUNZ” sign? Or if it had been placed out in the parking lot? Them signs just don’t have the magic they used to.
Which flags will liberals want to ban this week?
The dead, the wounded, and the bereaved families are rightfully concerned about the numbers of dead. For the terrs, more is better, of course,but the number that counts is the number of attacks.
I’m looking at the decal on the door. How could shooting happen in a no-gun zone?
Better still, why was it a No-Gun Zone in the first place? It’s not like there was there were any cash registers in there, and everyone knows military people don’t make jack.
Will the president send anyone from the white house to attend any of these funerals? Probably not, unless it is the moslem’s funeral. They don’t rank up high on the priority list like Michael Brown and Freddy Gray.