Blake Hall
Yesterday, four Marines perished in a tragic shooting at Navy and Army recruiting centers in Chatanooga, Tenn. Additional victims of this rampage include a critically wounded sailor, a police officer and the Chattanooga gunman himself.
Investigators have identified the perpetrator as 24 year-old Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez. The shooter was killed in a firefight after he sprayed dozens of bullets toward an military recruitment station. It is still unclear whether he was killed by police or killed himself.
Abdulazeez was not on any FBI watch list for terrorism or extremism. Investigators are thoroughly sifting through ominous blog entries, personal accounts from family and friends and public documents to glean some motivation behind this senseless crime.
Born in Kuwait, Adulazeez was a naturalized American citizen and a 2012 graduate of the University of Tennessee. His father was a Chattanooga city employee.
Available evidence suggests that Adulazeez acted alone, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t influenced by Islamist propaganda online. In one disturbing blog post, Adulazeez wrote that, “life is short and bitter” and Muslims should never allow “the opportunity to submit to Allah … pass you by.”
Both the target and timing of the attack fit the modus operandi of ISIS, which called for agents to lash out against American power during the month of Ramadan and the Fourth of July. Again, the police and the FBI have remained tight-lipped on the subject and have not confirmed ISIS involvement.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the rampage, stating that “Such inexcusable acts of violence must be repudiated by Americans of all faiths and backgrounds. The American Muslim community stands shoulder to shoulder with our fellow citizens in offering condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured and in rejecting anyone who would harm our nation’s safety and security.”