The Latest: FBI: Too early to know if gunman was radicalized
Jul 22, 2015, 9:43 AM
The American flag is lowered to half-staff above the White House in Washington, Tuesday, July 21, 2015, to honor the five U.S. service members who were killed by a gunman in Chattanooga, Tenn. last week. President Obama has ordered flags at all military and federal buildings and grounds through out the United States to remain at half-staff through July 25th. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — The latest on the Chattanooga shootings at two military facilities:
12:30 p.m.
The FBI says it is treating the Chattanooga gunman as a “homegrown violent extremist” and that it is too early to determine if he had been radicalized.
Ed Reinhold, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Knoxville, said during a news conference Wednesday that investigators were still looking into whether Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez had been radicalized.
Reinhold says authorities believe Abdulazeez acted alone, without the assistance of anyone else when he attacked two military sites in Tennessee on Thursday.
Four Marines and a sailor were killed in the attack.
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12:20 p.m.
The FBI says two weapons recovered at the scene of a shooting that left five service members dead in Chattanooga did not belong to the gunman.
Ed Reinhold, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Knoxville, said during a news conference Wednesday that at least one service member opened fire on the gunman, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez. Abdulazeez had three guns; two other guns recovered at the scene belonged to service members.
When asked if anyone was hit by friendly fire, Reinhold said preliminary reports indicated the four Marines and one sailor killed all were hit by bullets from the same gun.
Reinhold says one of the service members was killed inside the military building; the other four were killed outside.
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12:15 p.m.
The FBI says a military service member opened fire on the Chattanooga gunman after he crashed through the gates of a military facility there.
Ed Reinhold, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Knoxville, said during a news conference Wednesday that a service member fired at the shooter after he crashed his rented, silver Mustang convertible through the gates of a joint Marine-Navy facility.
Reinhold says the gunman, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, went inside the building and shot a service member. He then made his way through the building and continued shooting. Abdulazeez went out the back, and then shot and killed two more people before Chattanooga police opened fire on him.
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12:05 p.m.
A military official says several troops “ran back into the fight” after getting their colleagues to safety during an attack in Chattanooga that left four Marines and a sailor dead.
Maj. Gen. Paul W. Brier, commanding general of the 4th Marine Division, said during a news conference Wednesday in Chattanooga that there were 20 Marines and two Navy corpsman inspecting equipment at a joint Marine-Navy facility when the attack happened on Thursday.
Brier says the troops “reacted the way you would expect” during an attack, rapidly going room to room to get others to safety. They had just returned from a training exercise in California.
He says once they got to safety, several ran back into the fight. Brier would not provide further details about what happened.
The gunman, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, died after a gunfight with police.
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