Chattanooga Marine may have had pistol

FBI recovers Glock that may have been fired at gunman.

CHATTANOOGA, TENN. — The FBI has recovered a pistol that might have been privately owned and used by one of the Marines killed here on Thursday during the shooting at the Navy Operational Support Center, according to law enforcement officials.

Investigators are trying to determine based on forensics whether the pistol, a 9mm Glock, was used in an exchange with the shooter, Mohammad Abdulazeez, and possibly wounded him, officials said.

The standard-issue pistol for military personnel authorized to carry a sidearm is a variant of the 9mm Beretta 92. According to the Marine unit’s commanding officer, Maj. Mike Abrams, Marines are not authorized to carry personally owned firearms while at the support center.

An FBI spokesman declined to comment.

The shooting has prompted calls to arm military personnel at bases and other facilities, including recruiting centers, in the United States. In the 1990s, the Pentagon restricted who can carry weapons on domestic military facilities.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, are calling for the Pentagon to do more to protect troops.

“Long before the Chat- tanooga attack, we had been working to clarify a post commander’s authority to allow carrying of personal firearms,” McCain and Thornberry said in a joint statement. “Together, we will direct the Pentagon to end the disconnect between the threats our war fighters and their families face and the tools they have to defend themselves.”

Law enforcement officials said they were still sifting through Abdulazeez’s life and trying to figure out what specifically led to shootings. Abdulazeez, whose family said he had been suffering from depression, did not have an extensive social media profile, officials said.

A family representative said Monday the FBI also recovered personal writings from his house that were depressive and contained extremist views.

GETTY IMAGES Ron and Misty Fahy attend a prayer service Sunday near the Armed Forces Career Center, which was shot up last week in Chattanooga, Tenn., when Mohammod Abdulazeez opened fire on two military facilities. Four Marines and a sailor died.