ROAD TO SLAUGHTER
Mideast trips in focus Shocked pal: ‘Something happened over there’
THE HEAVILY ARMED executioner of four Marines was described by friends as an all-American guy — until something flipped in his head that sent him into a homicidal frenzy.
His lethal spree through a pair of Chattanooga military outposts was under investigation Friday as a terrorist act while authorities combed his computer and recent travel to the Middle East for answers.
“I wouldn’t get caught up in monikers, if it’s domestic or not,” said U.S. Attorney Bill Killian. “It’s a terrorism investigation . . . at an intense and higher level than a normal investigation.”
Officials confirmed they were examining the overseas trips taken by slain shooter Mohammad Abdulazeez, who was carrying a handgun and at least a pair of rifles when he launched the Thursday assault. One of the weapons was similar to an AK-47.
The killer wore no body armor — just a vest with pockets to hold additional ammunition, officials said. CNN reported he was toting a fourth weapon as well, along with several 30-round ammo cartridges.
Authorities were investigating whether the naturalized American citizen — who was born in Kuwait — became radicalized during a lengthy 2014 trip to the Middle East.
Abdulazeez visited Jordan for several months last year, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
CNN quoted a close friend as saying Abdulazeez, shot to death by police to end his rampage, appeared dangerously different when he came home.
“Something happened over there,” said a teary Abdulrazzak Brizada of Chattannoga. “I’m sure he had something that happened to him overseas. . . . Whatever caused this to happen, it’s not him. It’s not normal.”
Knoxville FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Ed Reinhold declined to answer any questions about specifics on the gunman’s recent itinerary. He did say authorities were chasing about 70 leads in the case.
Counterterrorism officials were tracing Abdulazeez’s path from 2014 to determine whether he visited other Middle Eastern nations or met with radicals. The slain shooter made several trips to Jordan during his life. He returned to Tennessee this year after his most recent visit there.
“It would be premature to speculate on exactly why the shooter did what he did,” said Reinhold. “However, we are conducting a thorough investigation.”
While the gunman wasn’t on the feds’ radar, his father, Youssuf Saed Abdulazeez, was once questioned about his travels abroad and alleged donations to a terror organization. The father, a soil engineering specialist with the Chattanooga of Public Works, was never charged.
Bassam Issa, president of the Islamic Society of Greater Chattanooga, told reporters the gunman’s father called him on Thursday, distraught over the carnage.
“He was as shocked as we were,” Issa said. “He apologized for what (his son) did to the community and to the Muslim community.”
Authorities said the younger Abdulazeez was determined on Thursday to ramp up the body count, with his murderous intent foiled only by the bravery of Chattanooga’s finest.
Police Chief Fred Fletcher said the 24-year-old killer “had every intent to encounter and murder police officers” before he was instead shot to death by local cops. As Abdulazeez blasted away, Chattanooga officers dragged a wounded cop from the line of fire to save his life before taking the killer down.
Another victim, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith, was fighting for his life Friday after the gunman blasted him.
Officials said only that he was seriously wounded and remained hospitalized.
The cold-blooded killer was regarded by friends as a friendly, outgoing and athletic, young man during his time growing up in Chattanooga. He led a nondescript suburban existence with his parents in a two-story home in Hixson, a community of about 40,000 people.
“He was as Americanized as anyone else,” recalled Sam Plank, who attended Red Bank High School two years ahead of Abdulazeez. “At least that’s what it seemed like to me.”
High school pal Hailey Bureau, 25, was reduced to tears by word of her old friend’s rampage. “It’s so shocking,” she said. “I imagine him the way I knew him, laughing and smiling.”
His parents raised five children, with the youngest a daughter born in 1992.
But there were dark undertones in the family, and divorce papers filed by his mother charged spousal and sexual abuse against her by the husband.
He was also accused of turning “physically and verbally abusive toward the children, striking and berating them without provocation or justification,” the court papers charged.
While one friend described Abdulazeez as “very outgoing,” it appears he was acting alone Thursday when he drove up to a military recruiting center in a Chattanooga strip mall.
Officials said he sprayed several dozen shots before driving to the nearby Naval Reserve Support Center.
The four Marines were mortally wounded and three other people were hit at the second stop before authorities shot and killed Abdulazeez.
The dead were identified as Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, 40, and fellow leathernecks Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, 37, Sgt. Carson Holmquist, 25, and Lance Cpl. Skip Wells, 21.
An impromptu memorial for the quartet appeared Friday outside an entrance to the center, featuring American flags, balloons and flowers.
“I just came here to pay my respects to the Marines who were killed and to my city,” said Rachel Kasprzak, 25, who arrived with flowers. “This is a scary world we live in now.”
The lone-wolf assassin was apparently operating below the radar of federal officials who track homegrown terrorists, and his name appeared on no government watch lists.
But there was at least one warning sign: Abdulazeez failed a 2013 background check after landing a job at a Cleveland nuclear plant.
First Energy Corp. spokesman Todd Schneider provided no details, adding that company workers recognized the terror suspect from his photo after the shootings.
Mohammad Almir Dizdarevic, a pal and former trainer for the mixed martial arts fighter, told CNN that he last saw the killer about one month ago after Friday prayers in Tennessee — and noticed nothing extraordinary. “I was like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe this,’ ” Dizdarevic said of the moment when he saw his friend’s photo identified as the killer.
More than 1,000 people turned out Friday night at a Chattanooga church for an interfaith service commemorating the slain foursome.