This happened 20 miles from my house in TN..
UPDATE 4:30PM (EST)
Four members of the military were killed in two attacks on military centers in separate parts of Chattanooga by an unknown gunman, leading to lockdowns at local hospitals as well as the Army Recruiting Center on Lee highway as well as the Naval and Marine Reserve Center at the Chattanooga Riverpark, where shots were fired.
A single shooter, described by witnesses as a white man driving a silver Ford Mustang convertible, began firing shots at 10:45 am.m. at the Lee Highway recruiting center, then led police on a chase to the Amnicola Highway location, where further shots were fired.
A U.S. official says the gunman in the shootings in Tennessee has been identified as 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, according to the Associated Press.
He was believed to have been born in Kuwait, and it was unclear whether he was a U.S. or Kuwaiti citizen. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing, sensitive investigation. It was not immediately clear whether the gunman’s first name was spelled Muhammad or Mohammad.
He is from Hixson, Tennessee, which is just a few miles across the river from Chattanooga.
At least four Marines were killed and one police officer was shot in the attacks at Amnicola Highway. Two others, a soldier and a police officer, were wounded in the attack, according to the Associated Press.
Dennis Pedigo, a Chattanooga police officer, is in stable condition.
Officials have said the shooter is dead and that the active shooting situation has ended. The shooter did not work at either of the facilities, according to the FBI. Today’s attack came with no warning, the FBI said.
A sign on the outside of the Lee Highway location had a “no guns allowed” sign posted. During the news conference, the FBI confirmed that guns were generally prohibited at federal facilities.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam called the situation a “tragedy” and “sickening.” The Governor’s mansion, along with many other sensitive facilities in the region, was put under heightened security immediately following the shootings.
U.S. Attorney Bill Killian said during a press conference that he would classify the violence as an “act of domestic terrorism.”
During the attack on Amnicola Highway, numerous Chattanooga and Hamilton County officers “actively and enthusiastically” engaged the suspect, said Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher.
Witnesses at both the Amnicola and Lee Highway sites reported hearing multiple gunshots in each case, with the bulk of the firing happing at the Amnicola Highway location. Shortly after the shooting, blue markers littered the ground outside the recruiting station on Lee Highway where shots were fired, and police completely blocked off Amnicola Highway to traffic.
A photo taken after the attack from a helicopter and posted on Twitter showed the shooter’s Ford Mustang with doors opened, parked next to a bent gate that was positioned in such a way that it appeared to have been rammed by the vehicle.
President Obama has been briefed on the situation, and multiple law enforcement agencies have responded to the scene, including the FBI.
Carolyn Taylor, who works at Binswanger Glass across Amnicola Highway from the incident site, said she heard what sounded like over 100 gunshots.
“It was eight, 10 rounds at a time,” she said. “Several people were shooting.”
Taylor said the police arrived and took the employees behind the building and later let them back inside.
She said the business was still locked down more than two hours after the shooting and police were bringing food into the employees.
At Lee highway, witnesses also reported hearing multiple gunshots.
Nicholas Donahue, an employee at Desktop Solutions, said there were two groups of four to eight shots.
Another witness said he saw the shooter drive away at high speed after the shooting there.
Toscano Italian Grill co-owner Mohamed Elbardissy heard shots and saw the shooter drive away at high speed.
“He was driving a silver, convertible Mustang — a white guy,” Elbardissy said.
“One of the guys, he got shot in his leg,” Elbardissy said. “He was trying to join the Navy.”
Victims were rushed to Erlanger, where police officers put the hospital on lockdown. Shortly after the shooting, there were more than half a dozen police cars with lights flashing, and ambulances arrived one after another.
Police officers at Erlanger guarded the door with high powered rifles and ordered the news media across the street.
Erlanger CEO told a reporter the hospital was on lockdown “so that we could actively manage the disaster.”
At one point, officers closed a curtain outside the Emergency Room, obscuring the ambulance from public view. They continued to work on the person in the ambulance for several minutes before bringing him inside the hospital. He appeared to be awake and sitting up.
Family members arrived later and were escorted inside by other police officers, who put their arms around the women.
Bruce Gans, owner of Tri-State Pools at 6220 Perimeter Drive, near Lee Highway where the shooting occurred at the U.S. Naval Recruiting Station, heard at least three gunshots this morning.
“We had the back door of the store open when we heard ‘Pop, pop, pop,’ which sounded liked an AR-15. Within minutes, it seemed, cops were all over the place. We heard rumors that five Marines had been killed. We locked the doors.”
“I just heard all the shooting,” said Fred Wright, a counter salesman at Carquest Auto Parts downhill from the U.S. Army Recruiting Office at 6219 Lee Hwy.
Then Wright saw recruiting office personnel come running.
“All of them starting running through the brush and the briars,” Wright said. “One of them was yelling, ‘Call 911, someone’s shooting at us.’”
“Three of them came in here, and we called 911,” Wright said.
Bradley Square Mall in Cleveland, which also has a recuiting office, was also locked down. However, though the mall was locked down, police said that there was no shooting in Bradley County.
Chattanooga State Community College, which is down the road from the shooting on Amnicola, was also on lockdown until further notice, said spokeswoman Eva Lewis.
Lewis said she could see Chattanooga Police and Chattanooga State patrol cars circling around campus.
A Rave alert was sent out to students warning those on campus to get inside and stay put and those with classes now and this afternoon to stay away, she said.
The lockdown was lifted after police said the “active shooter” situation was over, but Lewis said the campus will close for the day.
The campus was being closed for the day out of respect for the families of the victims, and in recognition of the emotional day for students’ parents and the students themselves, she said.
Chattanooga State’s campus on Amnicola HIghway will return to a normal schedule on Friday.
Cleveland, Tenn., police responded to reports of a shooter at Bradley Square Mall and the mall was locked down but no shots were ever fired, authorities said.
West’s counterpart at the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office, Ed Ramsey, told the Times Free Press around 1:45 p.m.that the mall would reopen at 5 p.m.
“Everything’s back to normal,” Ramsey said.
About an hour after the shots were fired in Chattanooga, McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy said officers were sent over to the area around the recruiting center in Athens, Tenn., “just as a precaution.”
Gerald McCormick, Tennessee house majority leader, said he was “deeply saddened to hear of today’s horrific events in our hometown of Chattanooga.”
“My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. I have been in contact with state and local officials to monitor any developments. I have the utmost confidence in our law enforcement agencies to handle this situation in a swift and professional manner.”
Saying possibly from Kuwait.....Us Citizen....probably a sleeper....
Another FR site has something about ISIS tweeting about this. Got to go out now, but will try to post here later if no one else does. What a damned tragedy.