Chattanooga's bloody morning: one gunman, two crime scenes, four dead
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Version 0 of 1. At 10.45 on Thursday morning, the first shots went off in Chattanooga, a picturesque city at Tennessee’s southern border. Within around 30 minutes, four US marines would be dead following an intense attack against two US military facilities by a lone gunman. Related: Chattanooga shooting victims: four marines 'will never be forgotten' “It is a heartbreaking circumstance for these individuals who have served our country with great valor to be killed in this fashion,” President Obama said later in the day. The incident, which left three others injured, is being investigated a potential act of domestic terrorism. The accused gunman, identified by officials as 24-year-old Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, also died following a firefight with police officers. An initial timeline of events has begun to emerge, beginning as Abdulazeez reportedly pulled up outside a US army recruitment station at a strip mall off the Lee Highway. He pointed a large weapon from inside his hired silver convertible Mustang and opened fire. It has since been confirmed he was armed with multiple firearms. Gina Mule, who witnessed the first shooting, told CNN she saw a white man with a “big, big high-powered rifle”. “He was opening fire on the air force, marines and navy offices,” she said. Mule said she saw the man reload his rifle and then drive away. It was later reported through anonymous law enforcement officials that Abdulazeez was carrying 30-round magazines at the time he opened fire with an “AK-47 style” weapon. Images from the scene showed bullet holes peppering the door and windows of the center. Nobody was killed in this initial attack but, according to local news reports, one marine was found injured. An active duty army recruiter, who was not named, told the Associated Press he dropped to the ground as soon as the shots started. He heard 30 to 50 shots ring out. “We heard one single shot, which kind of sparked our attention. Shortly after that, just a few seconds, the shooter began shooting more rounds. We realized it was an actual shooting, so we then initiated our active shooter drill: getting down low to the ground, moving to a safe location. And we waited until everything seemed to be clear,” he told the AP. At this point, it appears, Abdulazeez drove on to a second location, seven miles northwards up Route 153. A short time later, at 11am, reports were received of a second shooting at a naval reserve center. Abdulazeez reportedly rammed the Mustang into a chain-link fence and ran into a building before opening fire. It was here, also, that the four victims, later named as Gunnery Sergeant Thomas J Sullivan, Staff Sergeant David Wyatt, Sergeant Carson Holmquist and Lance Corporal Squire “Skip” Wells, died. Three of the men were veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. In a confusing twist the navy initially tweeted that there had been no shooting at the reserve center, before issuing a correction about 20 minutes later. During the manhunt that ensued, a no-fly zone was imposed over a four-mile radius around the reserve center. Multiple Tennessee locations were put on “lockdown” at this time, including the governor’s mansion, Chattanooga State Community College, Lee University, Bradley Square Mall and Erlanger hospital, where victims were being taken. Police have confirmed that Abdulazeez was killed at this second location, and Sergeant Dennis Pedigo of Chattanooga police was injured, and dragged to safety by fellow officers. At a press conference on Friday afternoon, they confirmed their belief that Abdulazeez died from a police bullet. “Today was a nightmare for the city of Chattanooga,” said Mayor Andy Burke at a press conference later in the afternoon, flanked by US attorney Bill Killian and FBI special agent Ed Reinhold. It was at that afternoon press conference that Killian and Reinhold indicated that the mass shooting was being investigated as an act of domestic terror. “We will treat this as a terrorism investigation until it can be determined that it was not,” Reinhold said. The FBI have since indicated that Abdulazeez had no known links to terrorist groups. |