Fifth victim in Chattanooga shooting identified

A friend of Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, the man alleged to have shot and killed four Marines and a Navy sailor in Chattanooga on Thursday, has said that hours before the attack he received a text message from him linking to an Islamic verse referring to declaring war, as his family has broken their silence with a statement that he had “suffered from depression” for years.

He becomes the fifth person to die after being shot on Thursday by Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, 24, who opened fire on the centres in Chattanooga.

“There are no words to express our shock, horror and grief”.

‘We obviously want to know what his thoughts were and who else he was associating with.’.

But CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes said depression doesn’t necessarily make anyone more likely to kill. “It grieves us beyond belief to know that his pain found its expression in this heinous act of violence”, the Abdulazeez family said.

Authorities are looking into the shooting as a terrorism investigation and whether Abdulazeez was inspired or directed by any terrorist organization.

Investigators say Abdulazeez was carrying two long guns and a pistol.

The reported Abdulazeez family statement goes on to detail the family’s position with regard to the shooting.

The suspect Abdulazeez, who was later killed in a shootout with police, also spoke out against the Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza and the civil war in Syria to his friends after a trip to Jordan in 2014.

The attacks, which happened minutes apart, began when a single shooter, identified as 24-year-old Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, drove a silver Ford Mustang convertible to a Lee Highway recruiting center at 10:45 am and fired more than a dozen rounds into the building.

But the Federal Bureau of Investigation has stressed it had no indication that the attack was linked to IS. “The only thing I can think of is that it was a combination of things – what is happening overseas, his family problems, maybe some of the issues with the less educated people here”. The U.S. Navy says a sailor who…

One of the sources said some family and friends have told authorities they detected some changes in Abdulazeez’s behavior since he returned to the US from a trip to Jordan previous year.

The Times said a friend of Abdulazeez had been interviewed by the FBI and that investigators were trying to verify the text.

The friend requested anonymity for fear of a backlash, according to the news agency.

Darlene Proxmire, Smith’s step-grandmother, said the logistics specialist was shot in the attack at the Navy Operational Support Center in Chattanooga.

Three other people were injured, including the sailor who the Navy said had died on Saturday. “Arming the National Guard at these bases will not only serve as a deterrent to anyone wishing to do harm to our servicemen and women, but will enable them to protect those living and working on the base”.

In Tennessee, where the shooting occurred, Gov. Bill Haslam has called for a review of security policies and procedures at National Guard armories and other military installations in the state.

Daly Simmons, 26, sits as she prays in front of a makeshift memorial outside the Armed Forces Career Center Saturday, July 18, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn.

But state governors in Louisiana and Oklahoma opted to immediately sign orders that would allow USA military personnel to carry firearms at recruiting centres, which often are situated in civilian shopping malls.