In this aerial image taken from video, law enforcement personnel work the scene of a shooting at the Navy Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center Chattanooga
The family of a gunman who opened fire on two military facilities in Chattanooga and killed four Marines said in a statement that their son suffered from depression and was not the son they knew.
“There are no words to describe our shock, horror, and grief,” said the statement, provided Saturday to the Associated Press by a lawyer representing the family of 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, who was killed by police. “The person who committed this horrible crime was not the son we knew and loved. For many years, our son suffered from depression. It grieves us beyond belief to know that his pain found its expression in this heinous act of violence.”
Mohammad Youssduf Adbulazeez
The family added they are cooperating with the investigation.
“Now is the time to reflect on the victims and their families, and we feel it would be inappropriate to say anything more other than that we are truly sorry for their loss,” the statement said.
Authorities are looking into the shooting at the Navy Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center in Chattanooga, Florida as a terrorism investigation and whether Abdulazeez was inspired or directed by any terrorist organization. They still don’t know what motived Abdulazeez.
In Chattanooga, a city that prides itself on strong ties between people of different faiths, some Muslims feared the community’s perception of them had changed after the shooting rampage Thursday.
As FBI agents served a warrant on the Abdulazeez home Thursday, two women wearing Islamic head coverings were seen being led away in handcuffs. But FBI agent Jason Pack said Saturday no arrests have been made.
The president of the Islamic Society of Greater Chattanooga said Abdulazeez’s father told him he felt blindsided.
“He told me that he had never seen it coming, and did not see any signs from his son that he would be that way and do something like that,” Bassam Issa said.
Meanwhile, governors in at least a half-dozen states ordered Guardsmen to be armed, and Florida Gov. Rick Scott moved his state’s Guard recruiters from city storefronts to armories. Jay Reeves, Michael Biesecker and Kathleen Foody, Chattanooga, Tenn., AP
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