It has been two months since the tragic Chattanooga shootings, and the Marine Corps is finally coming forward with more details from the attack. Among its heavily redacted 41-page report on the shooting was a story of love and heroism.
Gunnery Sgt. Camden Meyer was in the reserve center with his young daughter when shooter Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez opened fire on the unarmed Marines inside. When the first bullet shattered the window, Meyer grabbed his daughter and ordered Sgt. Winfield Thompson to get behind cover.
“I hit the floor,” Meyer said, “and immediately began to flatten my daughter’s body as flat as it could go and shielding it with my body from the fire. I yelled at [Thompson] to stay down until the break in fire. …I know the shooter would have to switch weapons, change clips or reload.”
When the gunfire ceased, Meyer ordered Thompson to run and hurried his daughter out the back door.
After the attack, Meyer told Marine officials that anti-terrorism training was not helpful during an actual terror attack. The skills and procedures he learned in basic training were what saved his and his daughter’s lives.
“We all said kind of that the active shooter training that we received — it was just a class — it didn’t help in this situation,” Meyer said. “But my Marine Corps training absolutely helped. Seek cover, get down, wait for the fire to stop or pause at least, and then you egress out the back.”