Mohammad Abdulazeez

Mass Murderer

Mohammad Abdulazeez and the 2015 Chattanooga Military-Site Attacks

Overview

Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez was the gunman responsible for a coordinated attack on two United States military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on July 16, 2015. During a shooting spree that lasted approximately thirty minutes, Abdulazeez fired at an Armed Forces recruiting office before driving to a nearby Navy Operational Support Center, where he murdered four United States Marines and fatally wounded a Navy sailor. A Marine recruiter and a Chattanooga police officer were also wounded. The five service members killed in the attack were Gunnery Sergeant Thomas J. Sullivan, Staff Sergeant David A. Wyatt, Sergeant Carson A. Holmquist, Lance Corporal Squire K. "Skip" Wells and Navy Logistics Specialist Second Class Randall W. Smith. Abdulazeez was killed during a gunfight with responding law-enforcement officers at the second attack site.

Background of Mohammad Abdulazeez

Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez was born on September 5, 1990, in Kuwait. He later became a naturalized United States citizen and lived with his family in Hixson, Tennessee, near Chattanooga. He attended Red Bank High School and graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2012 with a degree in electrical engineering. Abdulazeez held several jobs after college, including a brief position connected to the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Ohio. He was dismissed from that job after failing a drug test. Reports concerning his personal life described struggles with alcohol, drugs, depression and financial problems. He was arrested in Hamilton County, Tennessee, on April 20, 2015, on a charge of driving under the influence. That case was still pending when he committed the Chattanooga attacks less than three months later. Investigators examined Abdulazeez's international travel, internet activity, writings and communications after the shootings. He had spent several months in Jordan during 2014 and had passed through the airport in Doha, Qatar, while traveling. Authorities found that he had viewed extremist material online, but they did not establish that he had been directed by a foreign terrorist organization or that another person had helped him carry out the attack.

The First Shooting on Lee Highway

The violence began at approximately 10:45 a.m. on Thursday, July 16, 2015. Abdulazeez drove a rented silver Ford Mustang convertible to the Armed Forces Career Center at 6219 Lee Highway in Chattanooga. The recruiting office was located in a shopping center and served multiple branches of the United States military. While remaining in or near the Mustang, Abdulazeez fired numerous rounds into the recruiting center. Witnesses reported hearing a rapid series of gunshots as bullets struck the office's glass windows and exterior. Marine Sergeant DeMonte Cheeley, who worked as a recruiter, was shot in the leg. The people inside the office took cover as Abdulazeez continued firing. No one was killed at the Lee Highway recruiting center. After firing into the building, Abdulazeez drove away. Police received reports of the shooting and began searching for the Mustang. Abdulazeez traveled approximately seven miles from the recruiting office to the Navy Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center on Amnicola Highway. ...

Confirmed Victims: (5)

Carson A. Holmquist 25 yr old Male

Law Enforcement and Military Response to the July 16