Chattanooga shooting victims: IDs of 4 Marines become known

'ACTIVE SHOOTER': 'Skip' Wells' final text to girlfriend

CBS-Miami
Military Identifies Marines Slain In Chattanooga

Nearly 24 hours after a deadly shooting spree that began at one military recruitment center in Chattanooga, Tenn., and ended at another, many questions remain unanswered.

As authorities search for more information on Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, the 24-year-old allegedly responsible for the rampage that ended in his death and the deaths of four others, details about the victims are slowly coming to light.

Sgt. Thomas Sullivan was one of the Marines killed Thursday, his family told MassLive.

A native of Springfield, Mass., 40-year-old Sullivan was a veteran who earned a Purple Heart after two tours in Iraq. Sullivan’s two siblings, Dianne and Joe, gathered at the home of their parents, Jerry and Betty, in suburban Hampden, Mass., after receiving official notice from the military of his death.

Sullivan’s battalion confirmed the sad news on Facebook.

“For those who have not heard yet, one of the four Marines murdered today was one of our own — Thomas Sullivan,” read the message alongside a photo of Sullivan posted on the India Battery 3rd Battalion 12th Marines Facebook page. “Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers. Semper Fidelis Zimminite.”

Josh Parnell, a Chicago-based friend who said he served with Sullivan in Japan, told theOak Lawn, Ill., Patch news website that Sullivan joined the Marines in 1997.

“There’s no Marine you would want that was better in combat than him,” Parnell said of Sullivan, who he said survived the 2005 Battle of Abu Ghraib and would have been able to retire in a few years. “He’d been shot at so many times over the years and then for this to happen at home in the United States.”

Late Friday morning, Georgia news outlets were reporting that Squire Wells, better known by the nickname “Skip,” was another one of the Marines killed in Chattanooga Thursday. A 2012 graduate of Sprayberry High School in Marietta, Ga., Wells went to Georgia Southern University before enlisting, the Associated Press reported, adding to his family’s long military lineage. Lance Cpl. Wells had been texting with his girlfriend, Caroline Dove, about her plans to come visit him in Chattanooga, when the gunman opened fire Thursday. The conversation had gone from a loving exchange to “ACTIVE SHOOTER” so quickly that Dove thought Wells must have been kidding. As news of the shooting became widespread, Dove tried to get in touch with her boyfriend, who’d been silent for hours. She didn’t learn that he was one of the victims until the next day.

Follow News Radio 106.7 @NewsRadio1067 #RIP Marine! Skip Wells, 2012 graduate of Sprayberry High in #Marietta, died in the #ChattanoogaShooting #SemperFi 8:12 AM - 17 Jul 2015 7979 Retweets 3737 favorites

Follow CBS46 ✔@cbs46 A second victim in the #Chattanooga shooting has been identified as Skip Wells of Marietta. http://bit.ly/1My4cOb 8:34 AM - 17 Jul 2015 · Atlanta, GA, United States 144144 Retweets 5353 favorites

The Salina Journal, a local Kansas paper, also reported Friday that U.S. Navy logistics specialist Randall Smith was among those injured in the shooting. The 26-year-old had been hit three times and was rushed to surgery in Chattanooga, according to his mother’s cousin Tania Daugherty.

“They said his wounds are very extensive, more surgeries to come. They said they hit his liver and colon,” Daugherty wrote of Smith’s injuries in a text message to the Salina Journal. “They were not sure he will make it through the night. He’s still fighting hard.”

What motivated Abdulazeez to open fire on Chattanooga’s Marine Corps Reserve Center and Navy Operational Support Center remains unclear. The U.S. National Counterterrorism Center has reported no known connection between the 24-year-old and any terrorist groups.

“We are looking at every possible avenue, whether it was terrorism, whether it’s domestic, international, or whether it was a simple criminal act,” FBI agent Ed Reinhold told the Associated Press on Friday. “Obviously, we’re still at the beginning of this investigation. We will explore any possibility, and that includes whether anyone else was involved.”

Neighbors at a vigil Friday morning identified David Wyatt as the third Marine killed in the shooting, according to the Tennessean. A photo posted by Wyatt’s wife, Lorri, on Facebook Thursday has elicited comments expressing sympathy and support for the Marine’s family.

According to the Pentagon, Wyatt had been serving in the U.S. Marines since 2004, a tenure that included three deployments, two of them to Iraq. Growing up in Russellville, Ark., Wyatt was a Boy Scout. His scoutmaster, Tony Ward, told the Associated Press that he remembered the young Wyatt as energetic and fun-loving, characteristics that carried into adulthood. Ward described Staff Sgt. Wyatt, who was a husband and a father of young children, as a “hard charger.”

“He’s the kind of man that this country needs more of,” Ward said.

Carson Holmquist was named as the fourth victim by the Burnett County Sentinel, the local paper of Holmquist’s hometown of Grantsburg, Wis. Like the others, reactions to the news of Holmquist’s death can be seen on his Facebook page.

“When he became a Marine he was very proud of that,” Grantsburg High School principal Josh Watt told the Associated Press Friday. Watt, who had coached the Marine sergeant in high school football, recalled that Holmquist returned to his alma mater to show off his formal uniform as soon as he’d completed boot camp.

“It’s a very tough day in Grantsburg,” Watt said.

This story has been updated since it was originally published.

Associated Press Videos
Investigators Seek Clues in Tennessee Shooting

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez pulled up to his military targets in a rented, silver Mustang convertible, wearing a vest with extra ammunition, wielding at least two long guns — either rifles or shotguns — and a handgun. His once clean-shaven face was covered with a bushy beard. A short time later, four Marines lay dead. A sailor who was seriously injured died Saturday.

The image of Abdulazeez described by investigators doesn't square with the seemingly pedestrian suburban man described by neighbors and classmates: A clean-cut wrestler, the brother of a tennis player, the son of parents who drove no-frills cars. A man who played with the neighborhood kids growing up, gave a lift to a neighbor who became stranded in a snowstorm.

Just days before the shootings, Abdulazeez was seen dribbling a soccer ball in his yard, and he told two longtime friends he was excited and upbeat about his new job at a company that designs and makes wire and cable products.

"Everything seemed fine. He was normal. He was telling me work was going great," said one of the friends, Ahmed Saleen Islam, 26, who knew Abdulazeez through the Islamic Society of Greater Chattanooga and saw him at the mosque two or three nights before the attacks. "We are so shocked and angry," Islam said. "We wish he would have come to us."

Hailey Bureau, 25, recalled sitting next to Abdulazeez in high school because their last names were close alphabetically. She said she broke down Thursday when she learned he was the gunman, saying, "It's so shocking. I imagine him the way I knew him then, laughing and smiling."

Bureau recalled Abdulazeez's sense of humor, evident in a wry quote next to his yearbook photo, one that has since taken on bitter irony: "My name causes national security alerts. What does yours do?"

Raw: Police at Home Near Chattanooga ShootingPlay video

The 24-year-old Kuwait-born man opened fire on two U.S. military sites in Chattanooga in an attack that left four Marines dead at the scene and a sailor who succumbed to his injuries later. The death of Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith, a reservist serving on active duty at the Chattanooga center, was announced Saturday by the Navy.

It's not clear what set him on the path to violence that ended with him being gunned down by police.

Abdulazeez did not appear to have been on federal authorities' radar before the bloodshed Thursday, officials said. But now counterterrorism investigators are taking a deep look at his online activities and foreign travel, searching for clues to his political contacts or influences.

"It would be premature to speculate on exactly why the shooter did what he did," FBI agent Ed Reinhold said. "However, we are conducting a thorough investigation to determine whether this person acted alone or was inspired or directed."

In the quiet neighborhood in Hixson, Tennessee, where Abdulazeez lived with his parents in a two-story home, residents and former classmates described an ordinary suburban life.

Obama: Tenn. Shooting 'Heartbreaking'Play video

"It's kind of a general consensus from people that interacted with him that he was just your average citizen there in the neighborhood. There was no reason to suspect anything otherwise," said Ken Smith, a city councilman.

However, court documents allege it was an abusive and turbulent household.

Abdulazeez's mother, Rasmia Ibrahim Abdulazeez, filed a divorce complaint in 2009 accusing her husband, Youssuf Saed Abdulazeez, of beating her repeatedly in front of their children and sexually assaulting her. She also accused him of "striking and berating" the children without provocation.

Weeks later, the couple agreed to reconcile, with the father consenting to go to counseling.

Abdulazeez graduated from Red Bank High School in Chattanooga, where he was on the wrestling team. A fellow Red Bank High graduate, Hussnain Javid, said Abdulazeez was "very outgoing."

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This April 2015 booking photo released by the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office shows a man identified …

"Obviously something has happened since then," said Sam Plank, who graduated two years ahead of Abdulazeez but hadn't crossed paths with him since 2006. "He was as Americanized as anyone else. At least that's what it seemed like to me."

Bilal Sheikh, 25, said he had known Abdulazeez since they were teenagers, and they often played basketball together. He saw his friend at the mosque last weekend, as they came to pray and as part of the services to celebrate Ramadan.

"I'm in total shock, like everyone else," Sheikh said, later adding, "He was always the most cheerful guy. If you were having a bad day, he would brighten your day."

Islam and Sheikh both said that in the years they had known Abdulazeez, he never expressed any negative feelings about the United States or members of the military.

"He never said anything that would have been a red flag," Sheikh said. "I have so many questions in my head. I want to know why? What made him crack all of a sudden? It's mindboggling."

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An FBI investigator investigates the scene of a shooting outside a military recruiting center on Fri …

Abdulazeez got an engineering degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2012 and worked as an intern a few years ago at the Tennessee Valley Authority, the federally owned utility that operates power plants and dams across the South.

He was conditionally hired as an engineer at the Perry nuclear power plant near Cleveland and spent 10 days there before he was let go in May 2013 because he failed a background check, said Todd Schneider, a FirstEnergy Corp. spokesman. Schneider would not say why he failed, but said he was never allowed in the protected area of the plant near the reactor.

Later Friday, a federal official who had been briefed on the matter told The Associated Press that Abdulazeez was dismissed because he failed a drug test. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing law enforcement investigation.

For the past three months, Abdulazeez had been working at Superior Essex Inc., which designs and makes wire and cable products.

In April, he was arrested on a drunken driving charge, and a mugshot showed him with a bushy beard.

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A woman places a sign at a make-shift memorial outside a military recruiting center on Friday, July …

Karen Jones, who lived next to the family for 14 years, said she was somewhat surprised last weekend by his appearance when she saw him walking with another man in woods behind the house, where he liked to shoot pellet guns at a red target suspended in a tree.

"He had this big beard, which was not how he used to be," Jones said. She said he was typically clean-shaven.

The women of the family always wore head coverings in accordance with their Muslim faith, Jones said.

The official Kuwait News Agency on Friday quoted the Interior Ministry as saying that while Abdulazeez was born in Kuwait, he was of Jordanian origin.

A U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the case and spoke on condition of anonymity said that Abdulazeez was in Jordan last year for months, and that those travels and anyone he met with are being looked at as part of the terrorism investigation.

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A sign and a flag is placed at a make-shift memorial outside a military recruiting center on Friday, …

In recent months, U.S. counterterrorism authorities have been warning of the danger of attacks by individuals inspired but not necessarily directed by the Islamic State group. Officials have said they have disrupted several such lone-wolf plots.

But the FBI's Reinhold said Friday that so far, there is "no indication he was inspired by or directed by" ISIS or other groups.

The gunman on Thursday sprayed gunfire at a military recruiting center at a strip mall, then shot up a Navy-Marine training center a few miles away. Some of the weapons were bought legally, some may not have been, Reinhold said.

The dead Marines were identified as Gunnery Sgt. Thomas J. Sullivan of Hampden, Massachusetts; Staff Sgt. David A. Wyatt of Burke, North Carolina; Sgt. Carson A. Holmquist of Polk, Wisconsin; and Lance Cpl. Squire K. "Skip" Wells of Cobb County, Georgia. Sullivan, Wyatt and Holmquist had served in Iraq, Afghanistan or both.

On Friday, Gwen Gott added purple ribbons and a flag to a makeshift memorial taking shape outside the recruiting station.

"I love the service. Without them, where would we be as a country?" Gott said.

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Kunzelman reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Associated Press writers Michael Biesecker and Lucas L. Johnson in Chattanooga; Eric Tucker, Ted Bridis and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington; Travis Loller and Kristin M. Hall in Nashville, Tennessee; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; Claire Galofaro in Louisville, Kentucky; and Ray Henry in Atlanta, contributed to this report.

Nuclear deal will not change Iran's relations with U.S.: supreme leader

"No doubt, deal will lead Iran to closer relations w/ neighbors, esp Qatar," Rouhani said on Twitter.

Under the agreement reached on Tuesday, sanctions will be gradually removed in return for Iran accepting long-term curbs on a nuclear program that the West has suspected was aimed at creating a nuclear bomb. Iran denies it seeks a nuclear bomb.

Rouhani belongs to the technocrat part of the Iranian establishment and has a more pragmatic approach to diplomacy. He hailed the deal as a "political, technical and legal victory" for Iran and has emphasized that "no deal is 100 percent". Khamenei, however, has decided to take a more cautious stance and see if any red lines had been breached.

The supreme leader said on Saturday he wanted Iranian politicians to examine the agreement to ensure national interests were preserved, as Iran would not allow the disruption of its revolutionary principles or defensive abilities.

But his remarks did not shed light on Iran's procedures for ratifying the accord, which are not known in any detail.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will brief parliament on July 21, Iranian media have said, and the agreement will also be examined by the National Security Council, the country's highest security body.

MISTRUST

Zarif is set to travel to Gulf countries shortly after the end of the Eid holiday.

In a message to Muslim countries, Zarif echoed Rouhani's diplomatic stance, saying: "By solving the artificial crisis about its nuclear program diplomatically, a new opportunity for regional and international cooperation has emerged."

Iran regards its nuclear program as an emblem of national dignity and dynamism in the face of what it sees as decades of hostility from Western countries that opposed its 1979 Islamic revolution.

Khamenei's remarks radiated a broad mistrust of U.S. intentions. He said successive American presidents had sought Iran's "surrender", and declaring that if war broke out America would come off worst.

He later praised Iranian negotiators who thrashed out the accord in marathon negotiations in Vienna.

"During the nuclear talks, we saw the Americans' dishonesty over and over," Khamenei said during meetings with senior Iranian officials and ambassadors from several Muslim states, according to his official website.

"But fortunately our officials fought back and in some cases showed revolutionary reactions."

NEW YORK (AP) — The Supreme Court's ruling last month legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide has left Americans sharply divided, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that suggests support for gay unions may be down slightly from earlier this year.

The poll also found a near-even split over whether local officials with religious objections should be required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, with 47 percent saying that should be the case and 49 percent say they should be exempt.

Overall, if there's a conflict, a majority of those questioned think religious liberties should win out over gay rights, according to the poll. While 39 percent said it's more important for the government to protect gay rights, 56 percent said protection of religious liberties should take precedence.

The poll was conducted July 9 to July 13, less than three weeks after the Supreme Court ruled states cannot ban same-sex marriage.

According to the poll, 42 percent support same-sex marriage and 40 percent oppose it. The percentage saying they favor legal same-sex marriage in their state was down slightly from the 48 percent who said so in an April poll. In January, 44 percent were in favor.

Asked specifically about the Supreme Court ruling, 39 percent said they approve and 41 percent said they disapprove.

"What the Supreme Court did is jeopardize our religious freedoms," said Michael Boehm, 61, an industrial controls engineer from the Detroit area who describes himself as a conservative-leaning independent.

"You're going to see a conflict between civil law and people who want to live their lives according to their faiths," Boehm said.

Boehm was among 59 percent of the poll respondents who said wedding-related businesses with religious objections should be allowed to refuse service to gay and lesbian couples. That compares with 52 percent in April.

Also, 46 percent said businesses more generally should be allowed to refuse service to same-sex couples, while 51 percent said that should not be allowed.

Claudette Girouard, 69, a retiree from Chesterfield Township, Michigan, said she is a moderate independent voter who has gradually become supportive of letting same-sex couples marry.

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Graphic shows results of AP-GfK poll on gay marriage; 2c x 3 inches; 96.3 mm x 76 mm;

"I don't see what the big hoopla is," she said. "If they're happy, why not?"

Girouard said local officials should be required to perform same-sex marriages, but does not think that wedding-related businesses should be forced to serve same-sex couples.

"If the official doesn't like what he's being asked to do, then quit," she said. "But businesses are kind of independent, so if they have a strong belief against it, there are enough other businesses out there for someone to use."

The poll found pronounced differences in viewpoints depending on political affiliation.

For example, 65 percent of Democrats, but only 22 percent of Republicans favored allowing same-sex couples to legally marry in their state. And 72 percent of Republicans but just 31 percent of Democrats said local officials with religious objections should be exempt from issuing marriage licenses.

By a 64-32 margin, most Democrats said it's more important to protect gay rights than religious liberties when the two are in conflict. Republicans said the opposite, by 82-17.

Clarence Wells, 60, a conservative from Rockwood, Tennessee, said he strongly disapproved of the Supreme Court's ruling. He anticipates friction as gay couples try to exercise their newfound rights and people with religious objections to same-sex marriage balk at accepting them.

"I don't believe it's going to go over smoothly," said Wells. "I think a lot of them will be shunned in church. ... I think there will businesses that are going to close, because some people are stubborn enough to not want to deal with it."

Andrew Chan, 41, a moderate independent from Seattle, said he has tried to remain neutral on same-sex marriage.

"For me, it's always been about tolerating," said Chan, who works for a nonprofit organization. "I've got friends on both sides."

Chan said he was happy for gays and lesbians who have found someone they want to marry, and he expressed some wariness toward politicians who might try to roll back the Supreme Court ruling.

"That just creates more division," he said. "Are we looking to move the country forward or move it backward?"

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The AP-GfK Poll of 1,004 adults was conducted online July 9 to July 13, using a sample drawn from GfK's probability-based KnowledgePanel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. Some questions were ask of half samples of respondents and have smaller margins of error. Respondents were first selected randomly using phone or mail survey methods, and later interviewed online. People selected for KnowledgePanel who didn't otherwise have access to the Internet were provided access at no cost to them.

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Swanson reported from Washington.

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Reach David Crary on Twitter at http://twitter.com/CraryAP and Emily Swanson at http://twitter.com/EL_Swan

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Online:

AP-GfK Poll: http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com

Dozens of gay couples wed in mass ceremony (video)

Poll: Sharp divisions remain on gay marriage

A survey suggests support for same-sex marriage may have dropped slightly since the Supreme Court ruling.
Partisan parallels

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia announced Saturday it has broken up planned Islamic State attacks in the kingdom and arrested more than 400 suspects in an anti-terrorism sweep, a day after a powerful blast in neighboring Iraq killed more than 100 people in one of the country's deadliest single attacks since U.S. troops pulled out in 2011.

The Saudi crackdown underscores the OPEC powerhouse's growing concern about the threat posed by the Islamic State group, which in addition to its operations in Iraq and Syria has claimed responsibility for recent suicide bombings aimed at Shiites in the kingdom's oil-rich east and in next-door Kuwait.

The Saudi Interior Ministry accused those arrested over the "past few weeks" of involvement in several attacks, including a suicide bombing in May that killed 22 people in the eastern village of al-Qudeeh. It was the deadliest militant assault in the kingdom in more than a decade.

It also blamed them for the November shooting and killing of eight worshippers in the eastern Saudi village of al-Ahsa, and for behind another attack in late May, when a suicide bomber disguised as a woman blew himself up in the parking lot of a Shiite mosque during Friday prayers, killing four.

The Interior Ministry said that in June they thwarted a suicide bomb attack on a large mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia that can hold 3,000 worshippers, along with multiple planned attacks on other mosques and diplomatic and security bodies.

Those arrested included suspects behind a number of militant websites used in recruiting, the ministry said.

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A civilian inspects the site of a deadly Friday night suicide car bombing at a busy market in Khan B …

Saudi Arabia branded the Islamic State group a terrorist organization last year and has joined the U.S.-led coalition targeting it in Syria and Iraq. Authorities have vowed to punish those responsible for terrorist attacks inside the kingdom, the Arab world's largest economy.

Dubai-based geopolitical analyst Theodore Karasik said the arrests are aimed at part on reassuring the country's Shiite minority, who long have complained of discrimination in the kingdom, which is governed by an ultraconservative interpretation of Sunni Islam.

"It sends a message that the Ministry of Interior is not losing a grip and wraps up the potential nodes of Daesh recruits in the kingdom," he said, using an alternate name for the group.

In Iraq, authorities said at least 115 people, including women and children, were killed in Friday night's attack on a crowded marketplace in Iraq's eastern Diyala province. The mostly-Shiite victims were gathered to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which ended Friday for Iraqi Shiites and a day earlier for Iraqi Sunni Muslims.

Police said a small truck detonated in a crowded marketplace in the town of Khan Beni Saad. At least 170 people were wounded in the attack, police officials said, speaking anonymously because they are not authorized to brief journalists.

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An Iraqi woman grieves at the site of a deadly Friday night suicide car bombing at a busy market in …

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on Twitter accounts associated with the militants.

Iraq's speaker of parliament, Salim al-Jabouri, said Saturday that the attack has struck an "ugly sectarian chord," and added that government is making "attempts to regulate Daesh's terror from destabilizing Diyala security."

A number of towns were captured by the extremists in the province last year. Iraqi forces and Kurdish fighters have since retaken those areas, but clashes between the militants and security forces continue.

Security forces were out in full force across Diyala on Saturday, with dozens of new checkpoints and security protocols immediately put in place.

The Islamic State group holds about a third of Iraq and Syria in a self-declared "caliphate." The U.S.-led coalition airstrikes have not stopped the group from making advances.

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Civilians inspect the aftermath of a deadly Friday night suicide car bombing at a busy market in Kha …

Diyala, which borders Iran, is the only province in Iraq where Iranian jets are known to have conducted airstrikes against the Islamic State group earlier this year.

Elsewhere in Iraq, a roadside bomb on a commercial street in Baghdad's Dora district Saturday killed four people and wounded seven. North of Baghdad, a roadside bomb on a commercial street in al-Rashidiya killed three people and wounded 11.

Meanwhile, reports emerged Saturday that the Islamic State group used projectile-delivered poison gas against Kurdish forces in Iraq and Syria on several occasions last month.

Joint, on-site investigations by two U.K.-based organizations — Conflict Armament Research and Sahan Research — concluded that Islamic State forces used chemical agents delivered through what appears to be locally manufactured shells to attack Iraqi peshmerga forces and Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units, also known as the YPG, on June 21, 22 and 28.

"The three attacks are the first documented use by IS forces of projectile-delivered chemical agents against Kurdish forces and civilian targets," the report said.

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Debris is scattered at the site of a deadly Friday night suicide car bombing at a busy market in Kha …

In the Syria attacks, Islamic State militants launched 17 artillery projectiles against YPG forces stationed to the south of the village of Tell Brak in Hassakeh province. The projectiles released a chemical agent which induced in some cases loss of consciousness and temporary, localized paralysis. Twelve YPG personnel were hospitalized. Another seven projectiles were also launched into civilian residential areas in Hassakeh.

In the Iraq attack, Islamic State forces fired a projectile containing a liquid chemical agent at a peshmerga checkpoint near the Mosul Dam, triggering symptoms among the Iraqi forces that included headaches, nausea and light burns to the skin.

The findings on the attacks in Syria were confirmed by an YPG statement issued Saturday. The exact type of chemical used is not known.

"Although these chemical attacks appear to be test cases, we expect IS construction skills to advance as rapidly as they have for other (bombs)," said Emmanuel Deisser, Sahan's managing director.

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Abdul-Zahra reported from Baghdad. Associated Press writers Vivian Salama in Baghdad, Zeina Karam in Beirut, Merrit Kennedy and Nour Youssef in Cairo and Adam Schreck in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.