(Newswire.net — July 17, 2015) — Chattanooga, Tenn. – A gunman who unleashed a barrage of gunfire at two military facilities Thursday in Tennessee, had not been on the radar of Federal authorities, AP reported.
The attacker, 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez of Hixson, open fire on two military facilities within a half an hour, killing four Marines and wounding two other service members and a police officer before he was killed.
Reportedly, Abdulazeez who is from Kuwait, has lived a quiet life in the suburbs. He graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2012. One of his classmates, Hussnain Javid, who went to Red Bank High School in Chattanooga with Abdulazeez said he was a member of the wrestling team and popular student.
“He was very outgoing, everyone knew of him,” Javid said.
The FBI was not aware of him as being any kind of threat, a US official told CBS News, adding that counterterrorist agents are looking for any connection with ISIS.
“We’re going to do an intense look at him to see what his connections are,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Ed Reinhold said at the press conference late Thursday, adding that so far no connection has been found.
“We’ll look at his friends, family, associates — anybody who is associated with him to determine the cause or the reason why he conducted this attack,” Reinhold said.
“Today was a nightmare for the city of Chattanooga,” Mayor Andy Berke said. “As a city, we will respond to this with every available resource that we have.”
Reportedly, the first shooting happened around 10:45 am when Abdulazeez opened fire from automated weapon through window of his car at the military recruitment office, killing two and wounded several people. Then, he drove 7 miles to another post opening fire, killing two more marines. Eventually, the police killed him.
Addressing from White House, President Barack Obama pledged a prompt and thorough investigation into the “heartbreaking” attack.
President Obama said that White House have been in touch with the Pentagon to make sure military installations are being attentive and secured.