LIVE UPDATES: Attacker identified in shooting attack on military installations that killed four
This is the local newspaper the Chattanooga Times Free Press reporting from the town.
Four members of the military were killed in two attacks on military centers in separate parts of Chattanooga by an unknown gunman, leading to lockdowns at local hospitals as well as the Army Recruiting Center on Lee highway as well as the Naval and Marine Reserve Center at the Chattanooga Riverpark, where shots were fired.
A single shooter, described by witnesses as a white man driving a silver Ford Mustang convertible, began firing shots at 10:45 am.m. at the Lee Highway recruiting center, then led police on a chase to the Amnicola Highway location, where further shots were fired.
A U.S. official says the gunman in the shootings in Tennessee has been identified as 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, according to the Associated Press.
He was believed to have been born in Kuwait, and it was unclear whether he was a U.S. or Kuwaiti citizen. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing, sensitive investigation. It was not immediately clear whether the gunman’s first name was spelled Muhammad or Mohammad.
A man named Youssuf Abdulazeez attended UTC, spokesman Chuck Cantrell said, and graduated in 2012 with a degree in engineering.
Abdulazeez is from Hixson, Tennessee, which is just a few miles across the river from Chattanooga.
And a Twitter account related to ISIS reportedly tweeted: “O American dogs soon you will see the wonders”. The tweet, which used the Chattanooga hashtag, was posted just before the shootings started at around 10.30 local time. There is a suggestion that the tweet was posted after the shootings started and the claim of advange knowledge by ISIS did not allow for the difference in time zones. They certainly approve of the murders.
U.S. Attorney Bill Killian said during a press conference that he would classify the violence as an “act of domestic terrorism.”