FBI: Chattanooga gunman methodically sought victims

A 24-year-old gunman armed with a semiautomatic assault rifle and a handgun moved methodically through a naval reserve center last week in Chattanooga, Tenn., as he hunted for Marines and sailors to kill, a senior FBI official said Wednesday.

Edward Reinhold, special agent in charge of the FBI’s field office in Knoxville, Tenn., provided the first definitive account of the terrorist attack.

Reinhold told reporters at a news conference in Chattanooga that Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez smashed through the gate of the reserve center last Thursday and was almost immediately confronted by a service member who had his own gun. The service member fired several rounds, but it has not yet been determined whether he managed to hit Abdulazeez, who quickly entered the reserve center looking for targets. He fatally shot one person inside the building before exiting the back, killing four other service members in the motor pool area as some of them tried to climb over a fence and escape. A top general said the Marines had braved gunfire to save their comrades.

The FBI said that moments later, officers with the Chattanooga Police Department arrived and killed Abdulazeez, ending an episode that lasted just minutes at the reserve center.

Reinhold said it is still too early to determine whether Abdulazeez was “radicalized.”

Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is awaiting recommendations from the five military services on fortifying their recruiting centers. A bipartisan group of lawmakers advanced legislation to remove at least some of the limits imposed on service members.

Gun-toting citizens are showing up at military recruiting centers around the country, saying they plan to protect recruiters following last week’s attacks. The citizens, some of them private militia members, said they’re supporting the recruiters, who by military directive are not armed.