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17 July 2015
- From the section US & Canada
The four US Marines shot dead by a gunman in Tennessee on Thursday have been named by officials.
They were identified as Gunnery Sgt Thomas Sullivan, Staff Sgt David Wyatt, Sgt Carson Holmquist and Lance Cpl Squire “Skip” Wells.
The gunman was shot dead by police after attacking two military buildings in Chattanooga. He was named by the FBI as Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, 24.
The attack is being investigated as “an act of terrorism”.
Officials said on Friday that Abdulazeez was killed by police officers at the scene.
Federal investigators say Abdulazeez’s motive is unclear and that he had no known links to international terrorism.
But sources close to the case said authorities are looking into a trip he made to the Middle East last year, including a period spent in Jordan.
The US Marines released the names of the victims on Friday and gave brief summaries of their service.
Gunnery Sgt Sullivan was deployed twice during the Iraq war and received two Purple Hearts. Staff Sgt Wyatt was deployed in both Iraq and Afghanistan, while Sgt Holmquist served in Afghanistan.
Lance Cpl Wells, who was in his early 20s, enlisted in 2014 and reports said he had not yet served overseas.
A police officer and a marine corps recruiter were also wounded, along with a female sailor who remains in a serious condition in hospital.
President Barack Obama described the attacks as “heartbreaking”.
The incident began at 10:45 local time (14:45 GMT) on Thursday, when the suspect pulled up to a military recruiting centre in a rented convertible Ford Mustang and opened fire on the office.
Army spokeswoman Kelli Bland said four US Armed Forces recruiters were in the building at the time of the shooting, but no-one was injured.
The gunman then left the recruitment centre and drove some six miles (10km) to a naval reserve training centre, officials said.
There he fatally shot the four marines and wounded the sailor before being shot and killed himself in a fire fight with police.
“He did have at least two long guns, which would be considered rifles or shotguns. And he did have one handgun that we’re aware of,” FBI special agent Ed Reinhold told reporters on Friday.
He said “some of the weapons were purchased legally and some may not have been”.
So far there is “no indication that he was directed or inspired by anyone other than himself,” Mr Reinhold added, but said investigators were looking at possible links to jihadist groups overseas.
Analysis: Gary O’Donoghue, BBC News, Tennessee
As dawn broke over Chattanooga, the serried ranks of television satellite trucks, police cars and FBI vehicles were still in evidence outside the recruitment centre on Lee Highway – scene of the first shooting on Thursday.
Floral tributes lay on the ground, as the Tennessee governor blinked into television lights and promised to do all he could to help the families of the victims.
In truth, he and the FBI are just at the beginning of trying to piece together what drove Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez to open fire here and then drive seven miles to kill four US Marines at a navy reserve base.
But progress is clearly being made. A cautious Chattanooga mayor, Andy Berke, told me they were getting snippets from the Muslim community, suggesting that the blurry picture of this young man was starting at least to become a little more clear.
Police sealed off the area around the gunman’s house shortly after the attacks as they sought to piece together what his motivation was.
Abdulazeez was reportedly born in Kuwait and had Jordanian citizenship, but was also a naturalised US citizen.
He had attended high school in a Chattanooga suburb and graduated from the University of Tennessee with an engineering degree.
Abdulazeez worked briefly for a nuclear power plant in Ohio, but was dismissed because he did not meet the minimum requirements for employment, Stephanie Walton, a spokeswoman for the owner the facility, FirstEnergy, told the BBC.
The AP reported that Abdulazeez did not pass a background check and was dismissed.
Those who knew him have spoken of their shock at hearing of his involvement.
“He was a good kid… They’re good people,” said one neighbour. “I’ve never had any kind of conflict with them.”
US officials said he had not been known to federal law enforcement before the attacks, though he had been arrested locally earlier this year for driving under the influence of alcohol.
“We are looking at every possible avenue, whether it was terrorism – whether it was domestic, international – or whether it was a simple, criminal act,” FBI special agent Ed Reinhold said.
A blog reportedly set up by Abdulazeez was found by the SITE Intelligence Group, a jihadist monitoring organisation, shortly after the attacks.
In a post from Monday, the writer says “this life is short and bitter” and that Muslims should not let “the opportunity to submit to allah… pass you by”.
