2015 Chattanooga shootings

Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez (September 5, 1990 – July 16, 2015), a resident of Hixson, Tennessee, was identified as the gunman.

Abdulazeez, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was born in Kuwait on September 5, 1990, to Palestinian-Jordanian parents.

Abdulazeez held a temporary Jordanian passport as a travel document (commonly issued to Palestinians by the Jordanian government); Jordanian authorities emphasized that Abdulazeez was not a Jordanian citizen.

Abdulazeez migrated to the U.S. with his family in 1996 and became a U.S. citizen in 2003.

During the Second Intifada, Abdulazeez, then fifteen, traveled with his father to Jamma'in, the village in the West Bank where the father was born, with the goal of acquiring a Palestinian ID.

Abdulazeez graduated from Red Bank High School.

He earned an electrical engineering degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2012 and learned to manage electrical power systems as an intern with the Tennessee Valley Authority.

He drove to one of the center's buildings, where the Inspector-Instructor staff of Mike Battery, 3rd Battalion, 14th Marines and sailors were working.

Abdulazeez first fired at it, then charged inside and continued firing, fatally wounding a U.S. Navy sailor.

Abdulazeez then exited the building through the back and entered a fenced motor pool area, where he shot several Marines.

Three to five minutes after the second shooting began, he reentered the building, where he fired upon responding police officers.

He was eventually fatally shot by five police officers (Officers Keven Flanagan, Jeff Lancaster, Sean O'Brien, Lucas Timmons, Grover Wilson III) outside the facility.

The shootings spanned a thirty-minute period.

Around 100 rounds were fired by Abdulazeez.

Lock-downs were put into place near the sites of the shootings.

After the shootings, officials said that Abdulazeez was carrying a semi-automatic rifle and a 9mm handgun.

A Saiga-12 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun was also recovered from his car.

He was also wearing a vest that could hold extra ammunition.

An AR-15 semi-automatic rifle was seized at Abdulazeez's home by police.

Investigators discovered a 9mm Glock handgun that may have been privately owned by one of the slain Marines and are determining if it was used against Abdulazeez during the shootings.

It was also determined that the reserve center's commanding officer used a personal firearm against Abdulazeez.

Five people, excluding the gunman, died in the shootings.

They included four U.S. Marines who died at the scene and one U.S. Navy sailor who died at a hospital two days later.

All of them were shot at the U.S. Navy Reserve center, one inside a building and the other four at a nearby motor pool area.

The victims all attempted to distract the gunman, returned fire, and assisted people in climbing a fence to safety.

Some of the victims died while returning fire at Abdulazeez, providing cover for a larger group of potential victims who were escaping over a fence.

They were identified as:

In addition, two other people were wounded.

They were Sergeant DeMonte Cheeley, a Marine recruiter who was shot in the leg, treated, and released; and Dennis Pedigo, Jr., a police sergeant who was shot in the ankle.

On July 16, 2015, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez opened fire on two military installations in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States.

He first committed a drive-by shooting at a recruiting center, then traveled to a U.S. Navy Reserve center and continued firing, where he was killed by police in a gunfight.

Four Marines died on the spot.

A Navy sailor, a Marine recruiter, and a police officer were wounded; the sailor died from his injuries two days later.

On December 16, following an investigation, former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director James B. Comey said that the shootings were "motivated by foreign terrorist organization propaganda."

The shootings began shortly after 10:30 a.m. at the Armed Forces Career Center in a strip mall located on Lee Highway.

The Center recruited personnel for branches of the United States military, including the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force, and the Tennessee National Guard.

There, Abdulazeez fired 30 to 45 shots into the office from inside a silver rental Ford Mustang convertible, wounding a U.S. Marine.

He then escaped and led members of the Chattanooga Police Department on a seven-mile pursuit.

At the time of the first shooting, only seven people, including the wounded Marine, were inside the recruiting center.

Abdulazeez drove 7 mi to a U.S. Navy Reserve center on Amnicola Highway in Chattanooga, where he rammed his vehicle through a security gate.