Two shooting incidents at Chattanooga military facilitieskilled four Marines, injured three other military personnel and injured one police officer. The alleged gunman, 24-year-old Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, also died. Officials are not yet revealing whether police or military personnel killed Abulazeez or whether he committed suicide.
In the audio segment at the top of this post, we have audio from Mayor Andy Berke, FBI Special Agent Ed Reinhold and other officials from a Thursday afternoon press conference--the first official details on the shootings. Also, we're speaking with residents who turned up in droves to donate blood at Blood Assurance, and we're visiting a vigil at The Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul.
PRESS CONFERENCE THURSDAY EVENING
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5b9ra_XRtY&feature=youtu.be
In the video above, we have the full, unedited video from a press conference late Thursday night where United States Attorney Bill Killian, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke, Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher, U.S. Senator Bob Corker and FBI Agent Ed Reinhold all spoke.
"Chattanooga is a great city with a broken heart tonight," Gov. Haslam said. "All of our hears go out to the families of the four Marines who lost their lives. In the middle of that, there's been some heroic action by the marines who lost their lives and some others at the facility who did everything they could to minimize the damage."
"Our nation mourns the senseless loss of four of our nation's heroes," Sen. Corker (who is also a former mayor of Chattanooga) said.
Mayor Berke said, "We're thankful for those who are home safely, and we will certainly give a prayer in all of our hearts for those who aren't."
During the press conference, Reinhold emphasized the following points:
-The FBI currently has "no idea" what the gunman's motivation was
-The FBI is exploring the idea that the gunman had international ties, but hasn't confirmed anything at this point
-Officials are not saying how the gunman died, but an autopsy will be conducted over the weekend
-At this point, there is no indication others were involved
-The FBI will not release the names of the victims at all, but the Department of Defense may
-At the first shooting site, the gunman never left his vehicle. At the second site, he did exit his car, and he entered the facility and killed four Marines and wounded others
-Although law enforcement agents reportedly took at least one of the gunman's family members away in handcuffs, none has actually been arrested
OBAMA SPEAKS ON SHOOTINGS
President Obama also commented on the shootings, calling them "heartbreaking."
