New York flags at half-staff to honor Chattanooga victims

Ed Reinhold, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Knoxville, said that officials were still conducting an investigation of Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, the gunman who was killed by police after the July 16 shootings, according to the Associated Press.

Abdulazeez opened fire on the first facility, a recruiting office, from his rented, silver Mustang convertible and never got out.

“He then made his way throughout the building continuing to shoot at those he encountered”, Reinhold said.

When a gunman’s auto crashed through the gates at the Marine-Navy facility in Chattanooga, Marines rushed room to room to take their colleagues to safety – and some raced back to join the fight.

Twenty Marines and two Navy corpsman were inspecting equipment at the facility at the time of the attack.

Rep. Richard Hudson joined Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California, to introduce a bill known as the SEMPER FI Act, which would authorize the military to allow its recruiters to be armed when they’re at recruitment centers or allows them to improve structural security at recruitment centers.

“Once they had them to safety, some willingly ran back into the fight”. Reinhold said during the news conference that at least one service member fired at Abdulazeez.

Abdulazeez was born in Kuwait to Jordanian parents, but was a naturalized American citizen who lived in the Chattanooga area most of his life.

Reinhold said the Federal Bureau of Investigation was treating the gunman as a “homegrown violent extremist”, and he said investigators believe he had no help in executing the attack. Abdulazeez also battled drug and alcohol abuse, said the family representative, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

A top military general said that Marines had braved gunfire to save their comrades during the attack. Abdulazeez had three guns; two other guns recovered at the scene belonged to service members. He also said the Bureau is working with the government of Jordan to gather information about an uncle there that Abdulazeez recently visited for about two months.

The motive for the shooting remains unclear.

“Our thoughts and prayers as a nation are with the service members killed last week in Chattanooga”, Obama said. Carson Holmquist, 26, of Grantsburg, Wis.; Gunnery Sgt.

Offering a smattering of fresh details about the investigation of last Thursday’s shooting, Reinhold told reporters all of the victims were killed by a single weapon.

“We are gathering clues and we need to establish whether this was a sole act or one that is linked to a wider terror network”, the source said.

Cathy Wells, the mother of Lance Cpl.

“[T]he US Senate’s thoughts are with their families and loved ones, and with all those who protect us here, and around the world”, McConnell said.

Investigators have focused on a trip to Jordan last year by Abdulazeez, and an uncle has been detained there, according to his lawyer.

Both of them commended the Chattanooga Police Department’s rapid response to the shooting and the community’s support.