Conservative Happenings: Chattanooga

Showing posts with label Chattanooga. Show all posts

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Feds: Gunman in Tennessee military slayings not on radar

Photo by:

The Associated Press

This April 2015 booking photo released by the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office shows a man identified as Mohammad Youssduf Adbulazeer after being detained for a driving offense. A U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity identified the gunman in shootings at two Chattanooga military facilities as Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, who shares the same age and address as the man in the photo. (Hamilton County Sheriffs Office via AP)

Federal authorities are investigating how a 24-year-old Kuwaiti-born man managed to stay off their radar before allegedly carrying out two horrific shootings at military offices in Chattanooga, Tenn., that claimed the lives of at least four Marines and left three others wounded.

“We are looking at every possible avenue, whether it was terrorism, whether it’s domestic, international, or whether it was  a simple criminal act,” FBI agent Ed Reinhold said of the back-to-back shootings authorities say were carried out by Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, 24, of Hixson, Tenn., who also was killed.

A U.S. official said there was no indication Abdulazeez was on any federal law enforcement watch lists before the attacks in Chattanooga, which took place minutes and miles apart.

The U.S. National Counter-Terrorism Center said it has seen nothing so far to link Abdulazeez to any terrorist organization. But it noted that the Islamic State group has been encouraging extremists to carry out attacks in the U.S., and several such homegrown acts or plots have unfolded in recent months.

Abdulazeez was described by friends as a smart, well-liked, “easygoing” person who was a star wrestler at his high school and graduated from the University of Tennessee Chattanooga with an engineering degree in 2012.

Officials say Abdulazeez first sprayed dozens of bullets into a recruiting center for all branches of the military before apparently driving to a Navy-Marine training center 7 miles away and opening fire. All of the dead were killed at the scene of the second shooting.

In addition to the Marines killed, three people were reported wounded, including a Chattanooga  police officer and a sailor who was said to have been seriously hurt, officials said.

Via: Boston Herald

Friday, July 17, 2015

Medal of Honor Recipient Dakota Meyer Demands ‘Full Institution’ of 2nd Amendment in Wake of Chattanooga Attack

U.S. Marine Dakota Meyer, who received the Medal of Honor in 2011 for his service in Afghanistan, called for “a full institution of the 2nd Amendment” following the attacks on two Chattanooga, Tennessee military centers in a Facebook post Thursday.

“I carry a firearm with me at all times legally under the conceal and carry laws in the area that I am in,” Meyer wrote in the social media post. “I do not call for a disarming of American but instead a full institution of the Second Amendment so that we may defend ourselves as a country from all threats, both foreign and domestic.”

The Marine said that gun control is not the answer to such attacks, slamming “special interest groups” for spreading gun control “propaganda” throughout the country.

“Now is not the time to come out waiving photos of bullet holes in the glass calling for more gun control and spinning the story to yield a further separation of peoples in the Unites States,” Meyer wrote. “Now is the time to call on the American people to ignore the propaganda that special interest groups have been shoving in our faces and unite as a country so that we may become our neighbor’s keeper.”

The Marine also offered his “thoughts and prayers” to those affected by the attacks, which killed four Marines and wounded a police officer and another serviceman. He declared the shooting, allegedly carried out by Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, an “act of domestic terrorism, regardless of how Washington spins it.”

“This was a planned attack on the United Stated Military on United States soil,” Meyer said.

According to law enforcement officials, the suspected gunman was born in Kuwait before becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States. His name was not on any U.S. terror watch list.

As of Friday morning, three of the Marines killed in the attacks had been identified as Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, Marine Skip Wells, and Marine David Wyatt.

Via: WFB

[VIDEO] 'He was our hero': 2 Marines killed in Tennessee terror attack ID'd

Two of the four U.S. Marines killed by a Muslim extremist in an attack on a Tennessee military facility have been identified, including an Iraqi war veteran and Purple Heart recipient from Springfield, Mass., and a reserve lance corporal from Marietta, Ga.

Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, 40, a Marine since 1997, was one of those killed Thursday by Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, 24, a Kuwaiti-born Chattanooga resident who was killed near the scene. Fox News learned that one of the other three was Lance Cpl. Skip Wells, of Georgia. Wells was a cannoneer, although other details about him were not immediately known.

‏@Spotlight_Taryn

RIP GySgt Thomas Sullivan, it was an honor knowing you and knowing you're the reason why my mom would smile. 7/16/15 

Via: Fox News

REPORTS: ‘PRACTICING MUSLIM’ WHO KILLED 4 MARINES WORKED AT SUPERIOR ESSEX IN FRANKLIN, TENNESSEE

The Tennessean is reporting that Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, the 24-year-old “practicing Muslim” from Hixson, Tennessee who killed 4 Marines in Chattanooga, Tennessee yesterday, was employed at Superior Essex, a manufacturer of wire and cables located in Franklin, Tennessee.

WWTN Radio in Nashville reported that Abdulazeez called in sick and did not report to work at Superior Essex on Monday and Tuesday.

Franklin, a suburb of Nashville, is located 120 miles northwest of Chattanooga, Tennessee, where Abdulazeez killed four unarmed Marines at a recruiting center yesterday. Abdulazeez was killed by law enforcement officials during the shootings.

Abdulazeez was born in Kuwait, and graduated from Red Bank High School in the Chattanooga area. In 2012 he graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a degree in electrical engineering. According to an online resume, he worked as an intern at the Tennessee Valley Authority, Mohawk Industries, and Global Trade Express before landing his job at Superior Essex.

Breitbart News contacted Superior Essex this morning and spoke with the security person who answered the phone.

“I have been instructed to say get off the property, no comment,” the security person told Breitbart News.

The security person advised Breitbart News to call back at 8 am central when “the powers that be” will be available for comment.

The Superior Essex voice mail system did not accept messages Breitbart News attempted to leave messages for senior management of Superior Essex.

According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Abdulazeez trained in mixed martial arts, and was arrested on April 20, 2015 when he failed a sobriety test:

Abdulazeez’s father, also named Youssuf Abdulazeez, works as a soil engineering specialist for the Chattanooga Public Works Department, city records show. A co-worker who asked to remain anonymous said he was a nice man, hardworking, never caused anyone any trouble.

The elder Abdulazeez has owned the family’s house at 1902 Colonial Way Circle since 2001, according to Hamilton County property records. On Thursday, he did not return a call on his cellphone.

The younger Abdulazeez, who had lived in the Chattanooga area since he was in elementary school, has one incident on his criminal record. He was arrested by Chattanooga police on April 20 for driving under the influence after he was seen swerving while driving on M.L. King Boulevard around 2 a.m.

The arresting officer noted the smell of alcohol and marijuana, and said Abdulazeez had a white powdery substance around his nose, according to the arrest report.

Abdulazeez told police he had been around friends that night who’d been drinking and smoking. But he failed a sobriety test, was arrested and released on a $2,000 bond.

Court records show that’s the only time Abdulazeez has been arrested in Hamilton County.

….

Abdulazeez, a practicing Muslim, would sometimes get in trouble with the wrestling coach for fasting during the season because of the sport’s strict weight requirements, Smith added.

Scott Schrader, one of the owners at Chattanooga Fight Factory who trained Abdulazeez in mixed martial arts, said the then-teenager would stop training every day at 6 p.m. to pray.

….

In Abdulazeez’s senior photo in a Red Bank yearbook, he sports a tux and smiles into the camera, clean shaven and without the beard he wore when arrested for DUI this year. Under is name is a senior quote, attributed to “Hijabman,” an American-Pakistani activist.

“My name causes national security alerts,” the quote reads. “What does yours do?

UPDATE:

Breitbart News spoke with Superior Essex’s plant manager at its Franklin, Tennessee headquarters, Dave Marcaurele, Friday morning at 9:15 am central time to confirm details of Abdulazeez’s employment.

“We don’t have any comment at this point in time,” Marcaurele told Breitbart News

Via: Breitbart

Trump would end 'gun free zones' on military bases

Donald Trump was unfortunately proven right on another one of his top issues Thursday: "gun free zones" at military bases.

Indications that Thursday's shooting at two military bases in Chattanooga, Tenn., occurred at or near "gun free zones."

In an interview with the website AmmoLand.com, Trump decried the zones on military bases, suggesting that they left highly-trained gun operators without a weapon to fire at attackers, with the exception of military police.

A photo from the scene taken from a local Fox station showed 29 bullet holes around a "gun free zone" sign.

Here's our earlier story:

Pistol-packing GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump ripped a policy implemented by former President Bill Clinton making military bases "gun free zones," declaring that as president bases would no longer be defenseless against terror attacks.

"As Commander-in-Chief, I would mandate that soldiers remain armed and on alert at our military bases." he told the website Ammoland.com.

"President Clinton never should have passed a ban on soldiers being able to protect themselves on bases. America's Armed Forces will be armed," he added to the website closely watched by gun rights groups and the National Rifle Association.

Via: Washington Examiner

THREE DAYS BEFORE SHOOTING, MUSLIMS STAGED PROTEST IN CHATTANOOGA AGAINST ‘AMERICAN TALIBAN’

The shooter at the Chattanooga Marine shooting has been identified as Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, leading many to question if Islamism might have been the motivation for the shooting. It might not then be a coincidence that three days prior to the attack, Muslims staged a protest at Chattanooga defending Islam:

‏@imraansiddiqi

Protesters outside Chattanooga federal building blast handling of Robert Doggart case http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2015/jul/13/protesters-outside-chattanooga-federal-building-blast-handling-robert-doggart-case/314361/ … 

Via: Red State

Thursday, July 16, 2015

[VIDEO] 'Nightmare' in Chattanooga: 4 Marines Killed, 1 Officer Wounded in Attacks on Navy Facilities

FOX NEWS

Four Marines were killed Thursday at a Chattanooga, Tenn., Navy training center, in what authorities called a possible "act of domestic terrorism" that consisted of two attacks carried out by a lone gunman at military facilities just seven miles apart, officials said.

The unidentified gunman shot up a recruiting center before driving to the Navy Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center and killing four Marines before he was shot, authorities said. Sources told Fox News police chased the gunman from the recruiting center to the Center, where the killings took place. The FBI and military police were investigating the attack, but authorities could not rule out the possibility of terrorism.

“We are treating this as an act of domestic terrorism,” said Bill Killian, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

The names of the Marines who were reportedly shot were not immediately released pending notification of their families. The Navy Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center lies along a bend in the Tennessee River, northeast of downtown Chattanooga.

Despite Killian's statement, an FBI Special Agent Ed Reinhold told reporters that it may have been a criminal act. The gunman was killed, but authorities did not comment on his identity, motivation or the circumstances of his death. Authorities said the gunman did not work at either military facility.

Reinhold said all the dead were killed at the Navy Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center Chattanooga. It sits between Amnicola Highway and a pathway that runs through Tennessee RiverPark, a popular park at a bend in the Tennessee River northeast of downtown Chattanooga. It's in a light industrial area that includes a Coca-Cola bottling plant and Binswanger Glass.

The two entrances to the fenced facility have unmanned gates and concrete barriers that require approaching cars to slow down to drive around them.

Via: Fox News