Feds investigate Tennessee shooting as possible terrorism

UPDATE: The U.S. government is investigating shootings at two military recruitment centers in Chattanooga, Tenn., as a matter of national security.

President Barack Obama promised a prompt and thorough investigation, saying, ““It is a heartbreaking circumstance for these individuals who served our country with great valor to be killed in this fashion.”

The Washington Post reported shooter Muhammad Abdulazeez, who died in the attack, too, grew up in a conservative Muslim family in a suburb of Chattanooga. He moved with his family to the U.S. from Kuwait when he was an infant. Abdulazeez earned his engineering degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2012.

A United States official said there’s so far no evidence that federal law enforcement considered Abdulazeez a possible terrorist at the time of the shooting. The U.S. National Counterterrorism Center said it has seen nothing to connect Abdulazeez any terrorist organization, but Islamic State (ISIS) has been encouraging extremists to carry out lone-wolf attacks in the U.S.

UPDATE (5:15 p.m.): Officials in Tennessee have identified the shooter in today’s attack on two military recruiting offices as 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez.

Shortly after a press conference during which officials described the attack that left four Marines dead, police stormed the house where Abdulazeez lived. They led away two unidentified women in handcuffs.

Abdulazeez is believed to have been born in Kuwait, although it’s not clear whether he had U.S. citizenship. He lived in Hixon, Tenn., just across the river from Chattanooga, where the attacks took place.

Investigators have not provided any possible motives for the attacks, during which Abdulazeez also died.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (3:30 p.m.): An unidentified gunman attacked two military recruiting offices in Chattanooga, Tenn., today, killing four Marines. A soldier and a policeman suffered injuries during the attack. The gunman also died.

“Lives have been lost from some faithful people who have been serving our country, and I think I join all Tennesseans in being both sickened and saddened by this,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said.

Officials have not released many details of the shooting, but one site involved a Navy recruiting office on Amnicola Highway. The other facility, 7 miles away on Old Lee Highway, houses offices for Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and National Guard.

At that site, witnesses said the shooter drove up to the building and opened fire before driving off. Recruiters in the Army office heard a single gunshot around 10:30 a.m.

“Shortly after that, just a few seconds, the shooter began shooting more rounds,” said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Dodge, 36, adding he counted between 30 and 50 shots. “We realized it was an actual shooting.”

At the other site, the Navy Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center Chattanooga sits between a Coca-Cola bottling plant and Binswanger Glass. Employees there reported hearing a volley of shots at around 11 a.m.

“I couldn't even begin to tell you how many,” said Marilyn Hutcheson, who works for the glass company. “It was rapid fire, like pow pow pow pow pow, so quickly. The next thing I knew, there were police cars coming from every direction.”

Hutcheson and other company employees, along with one customer, barricaded themselves in the building. They continued to hear shots for about 20 minutes. Shortly after the shooting stopped, bomb squads, SWAT teams, and dozes of state and local officials converged on the site.

“We're apprehensive,” Hutcheson said. “Not knowing what transpired, if it was a grievance or terroristic related, we just don't know.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.