Tennessee gunman spent time in Jordan in 2014

Published July 17th, 2015 - 06:09 GMT
Al Bawaba
Al Bawaba

The assailant who killed four U.S. Marines in Chattanooga, Tenn., spent about seven months in Jordan last year, a senior intelligence official revealed Friday.

Kuwait-born Mohammad Yousseuf Abdulazeez, 24, fired multiple times Thursday at a military recruiting office, then traveled by car to a Naval Reserve facility and again opened fire before he was shot to death.

The unidentified official, speaking on condition of anonymity because an investigation into the incident continues, noted, "This attack raises several questions about whether he was directed by someone or whether there's enough propaganda out there to motivate him to do this."
 

The FBI announced nothing in their investigation indicates "anything that directly ties" Abdulazeez, a naturalized U.S. citizen, to any terrorist organizations. His father, however, was on a terrorist watch list several years ago, a law enforcement official said, and was questioned while on a trip outside the United States, but was removed from the list.

Two of the four Marines killed were identified as Skip Wells, 21, and Thomas Sullivan, 40. Sullivan was a Purple Heart recipient with two tours of duty in Iraq. The identities of the other two fatalities, or of the two service members and one police officer injured in the incident, have not been released.

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