Muslim Groups Condemn Chattanooga Shooting as FBI Probes Middle East Connection

Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, 24, a Kuwaiti-born Chattanooga resident who was killed by police during his shooting rampage Thursday, traveled to Jordan in 2014 and may have also visited Yemen, according to multiple reports.

Sources close to the investigation told the The Wall Street Journal authorities are trying to determine whether Abdulazeez had any contact with extremists during his seven-month stay in Jordan. Abdulazeez’s father was allegedly placed on a terror watch list, temporarily.

Meanwhile, multiple Muslim-American groups condemned the attack on Thursday and Friday, including The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, one of the oldest muslim groups established in the 1920s.

“This is tragic and incomprehensible,” said Dr. Nasim Rehmatullah, National Vice President of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, “While we do not yet know what motivated this man, we urge calm, defer to authorities to justly resolve this, and pray for the departed U.S. Marines.”

Abdulazeez first shot up a recruiting center before driving to the Navy Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center and killing four Marines before he was shot by police chasing him from the recruiting center to the Support Center, where the killings took place.

In the first attack, a silver Mustang drove up to the Armed Forces Career Center in a strip mall on Lee’s Highway and opened up with a barrage of gunfire before speeding off, officials said. An unidentified police officer was shot in the ankle, but not seriously injured. Law enforcement officials said that counter-terrorism agents from the FBI’s Knoxville field office responded to the scene.

PPD has confirmed that one of the Marines who was killed was a “decorated war hero with two Purple Hearts,” and that the youngest victim was a 19 year-old Marine.

“The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA is proud of the many Muslim Americans who serve this country in the armed forces and dedicate their lives to protecting America,” Dr. Rehmatullah. “We pray for the speedy recovery of those wounded, and offer our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims.”