Law enforcement officials have released the name of the shooter who injured three people and killed four marines in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The alleged gunman is 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez. It is believed Abdulazeez was born in Kuwait, but there is no evidence to the status of his citizenship at this time. He was reportedly from Hixson, Tennessee, a town located across the river from Chattanooga.
Officials have stated that Abdulazeez was “not on the FBI’s radar” before the attacks and that it’s too early to establish a motive.
Abdulazeez was reportedly killed, but no details regarding his death has been released by officials at this time.
A gunman opened fire on two military recruitment centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Thursday, leaving soldiers dead and wounded.
Officials in the Chattanooga area say the gunman has been shot and killed and that they believe he is the only one involved in the attacks.
Fox News reported that four Marines were killed at one of the two centers. FBI officials confirmed others were injured and are being treated at local hospitals but there was no information on their condition.
The U.S. Prosecutor for the region said at a press conference the investigation is being conducted “as a case of domestic terrorism.” He added there is a joint federal, state and local investigation which is why much of the information about the shooting is being withheld from the media and public.
The FBI, ATF and the Department of Homeland Security were on the scene within hours and leading the investigation.
Ed Reinhold, special agent in charge of the FBI at the same news conference praised the local police department for the response and for “neutralizing the threat to the community.”
The FBI confirmed the suspect carried “multiple weapons” but would not describe the weapons. They believe that the gunman was residing in the area before the attack. Reinhold also said that while it’s being investigated as domestic terrorism, it’s possible the attack was not related to terrorism and just an act of violence.
The woman who spotted the South Carolina church shooter at a stoplight in North Carolina says it was God that put her in that place at that time.
Debbie Dills says when she looked beside her at the stoplight and noticed the bowl haircut on the white man driving a black Hyundai there was a disturbance in her spirit.
“At first I thought, nah, it couldn’t be,” Dills said. “I didn’t want to overreact.”
South Carolina license plate. “In my mind I’m thinking, ‘That can’t be.’ … I never dreamed that it would be the car.”
Dills, a part-time minister of music, had been devastated by the tragedy and had been praying for the victims of the event as she drove on. She pulled off the highway and called her boss to ask him what to do.
“I was nervous, I was scared, I’m normally not that kind of person, and I got back on the bypass to go see just if I could get a tag number, just to see — just had a feeling and I’m sure that was divine intervention,” she told TODAY. “I feel like God has his hand in it and that he had me where I needed to be.”
Roof confessed to the killings after being taken in custody. He claimed that he was targeting blacks because he felt blacks were taking over the country.
State prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty.
Marcus Stanley, a victim of gun violence, showed the world a message of grace and forgiveness in a Facebook comment that has gone viral.
“I love you Dylann… even in the midst of the darkness and pain you’ve caused.”
The Facebook comment was found on the barren profile of Dylann Storm Roof, the suspect of the Charleston shooting. Stanley posted the message before Roof was captured Thursday morning in hopes that he would see it.
“I don’t look at you with the eyes of hatred, or judge you by your appearance or race, but I look at you as a human being that made a horrible decision to take the lives of 9 living & breathing people,” Stanley, a 30-year-old gospel singer, wrote on Roof’s Facebook. “Children do not grow up with hatred in their hearts. In this world we are born color blind. Somewhere along the line, you were taught to hate people that are not like you, and that is truly tragic.”
In 2004, Stanley was shot eight times by a gang during an initiation rite on the streets of Baltimore. CBN News reported that he had lost feeling in his right hand. A few months later, he turned to God and was able to forgive the man that pulled the trigger, according to his Facebook page.
Stanley even encouraged the young man to accept Jesus into his heart and be forgiven.
“Give your heart to Jesus and confess your sins with a heart of forgiveness. He is the only one that can save your soul and forgive you for the terrible act that you have done. I love you Dylann…but more importantly HE loves you.”
Marveled by Stanley’s compassion for Roof, other Facebook users have shared the post nearly 28,000 times.
A white gunman walked into a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday night. He sat in the prayer service for about an hour before he pulled a gun, opened fire and killed 9 people including the pastor who was also a state senator.
The gunman has been identified by the FBI as 21-year-old Dylann Roof of Lexington, South Carolina. He was apprehended Thursday morning in Shelby, North Carolina, about three hours away from the shooting site.
“This is a situation that is unacceptable in any society and especially in our society and our city,” Charleston Police Chief Gregory Mullen said.
Officials confirmed that three men and six women were killed in the shooting. The gunman reportedly reloaded five times during the assault.
Witnesses said that the pastor, Clementa Pinckney, tried to talk the gunman out of the attack. Sylvia Johnson, a cousin of the pastor who survived the assault.
“He just said, ‘I have to do it. You rape our women and you’re taking over our country,” Johnson said.
The incident is being investigated as a hate crime.
“The only reason that someone could walk into a church and shoot people praying is out of hate,” Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley said. “It is the most dastardly act that one could possibly imagine, and we will bring that person to justice. … This is one hateful person.”
Boston police fatally shot a man Tuesday that was part of a terrorism investigation.
An official with the U.S. Joint Terrorism Task Force says the slain man was part of a terror investigation involving Islamist extremists who were under surveillance and tracking. The man was shot after coming toward police and federal agents with a military-style knife.
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said the man was specifically under investigation for threats against police officers. Details on those threats were not released to the media.
“Unfortunately, he came at the officers and, you know, they do what they were trained to do and, unfortunately, they had to take a life,” Evans said.
The suspect died at an area hospital.
Two officers who were involved in the incident were examined for stress at the hospital but did not suffer any physical injuries.
The shooting is still under official investigation.
A Connecticut Pastor, outside his church on Sunday morning placing American flags in honor of Memorial Day, was shot by an unknown assailant.
Rev. Augustus Sealy, 54, is pastor of First Church of the Nazarene in Hartford, Connecticut. He was planting small American flags in the church yard when someone drove past in a black car and opened fire.
Police say that they received multiple 911 calls and found Rev. Sealy shot in the leg and shoulder. The pastor’s femur was shattered and a metal rod was placed in the leg to stabilize it.
His wife Sharon told the Hartford Courant that while her husband was in a lot of pain he should make a full recovery from his wounds.
“He hasn’t lost any hope,” Sealy’s wife told NBC Connecticut. “You know, this is something that was really terrible and shouldn’t have happened and we’ve already prayed for that person who actually committed the crime.”
Rev. Eustance McDonald of Brooklyn, New York came to the church to preach at the 11 a.m. service and spoke from the book of Samuel where King David and his men had their town burned down by an enemy but did not lose heart.
“Misfortune in life comes to us all,” he said, telling the congregation that what matters most is their response. “You have to go to a place of hope.”
Rev. Henry Brown, who has been working to end gun violence in Hartford, came to the church after the incident to comfort and counsel church members.
“I am tired of people being shot,” he said. “The devil is not going to win here.”
A man who clams to be an “American jihadist” says Sunday’s terror attack in Texas was the work of ISIS and that “trained soldiers” are currently positioned in 15 states and planning more attacks.
The post on a file-sharing site was signed by Abu Ibrahim Al Ameriki, a man that intelligence sources admit joined a Pakistani terrorist group several years ago. He has been seen in propaganda videos for ISIS in the past.
“Out of the 71 trained soldiers 23 have signed up for missions like Sunday, we are increasing in number,” read the warning. “Of the 15 states, 5 we will name… Virginia, Maryland, Illinois, California, and Michigan.”
The posting appeared to claim the attack at the Draw the Prophet Muhammad contest in Texas was successful despite the fact the attackers were shot dead by security at the event before they could reach anyone actually involved in the event.
The terrorist group posted a video Tuesday night with clips of praise for the two jihadists who committed the attempted assault on the contest.
The attack in Texas seems to back up comments earlier this year from FBI head James Comey who said they had reports of radicalized Americans in 49 states.
“We are focused keenly on who would be looking to travel to join this band of murderers who will have come back from Iraq and Syria and to the United States,” Comey said in a speech to law enforcement officers in Mississippi. “We have opened cases all over the place focused on this threat, so it is not … a Washington thing – it is something we focus on throughout the FBI.”
A man who had been investigated as a terrorist by the FBI and his roommate attempted to storm a “Draw Muhammad” contest near Dallas with automatic weapons but were gunned down by security before they were able to harm any civilians.
Elton Simpson had been the subject of a terrorism investigation and had been convicted five years ago of lying to federal agents about his plans to travel to Somalia. A judge said that they couldn’t officially prove that he was attempting to join a terror group and given probation.
The gunmen had been living in Phoenix.
ISIS terrorists have been calling for an attack on the contest for more than a week. An ISIS fighter posted on Twitter after the attack “two pro-ISIS individuals” had carried out the attack.
‘They Thought They Was Safe In Texas From The Soldiers of The Islamic State,’ added the tweet.
A security guard was hit by the terrorist’s shots but was treated and released from a local hospital. Moments after the start of the assault, a Garland, Texas police officer shot both terrorists dead.
‘With what he was faced with and his reaction and his shooting with a pistol, he did a good job,’ Harn said of the officer.
‘He did what he was trained to do, and under the fire that he was put under, he did a very good job and probably saved lives. We think their strategy was to get into the events center and they were not able to get past that outer perimeter.’
Elton Simpson’s father released a statement saying that his son “made a bad choice.”
“We are Americans and we believe in America,” Dunston Simpson said. “What my son did reflects very badly on my family.”
While most of the nation was focused on the unrest in Baltimore, the riots in Ferguson began again.
Police say three people were shot, over 100 shots were fired and multiple small fires were set last night as people protested against the Freddie Gray incident.
Acting Police Chief Al Eickhoff told reporters that two of the people shot were hit in the neck and the third hit in the leg. A 20-year-old man is under arrest for one of the shooting incidents and five others were arrested on charges ranging from burglary to brandishing a weapon.
“This community is trying to move forward and there are people who are just set on violence,” Eickhoff said. “(The people who committed crimes) were not protesters, they were just a criminal element set on undoing all that this community has done to move forward.”
“We’ve got a certain amount of a criminal element that do not want to see the community move forward. We’ve got a completely new face on the city council and we’re changing things. I’m not sure if they’re just resisting it or what. The three shooting victims we had were rioters, and while we’re trying to take care of the victims, they’re intent on damaging the policemen who are trying to help the rioters that have been shot.”
In a scene reminiscent of the earlier Ferguson riots, a convenience store was looted by a mob. At least two dozen people ransacked the store just after 1:30 a.m. taking liquor, cigarettes, candy, lottery tickets and about $80 from a cash drawer.
The store was a block away from where the gunshot victims were hit.
Police were on the streets to stop rioters until 3:30 a.m. according to Eickhoff.
