Four Marines were killed on Thursday by a gunman who opened fire at two military offices in Chattanooga, Tennessee, before being fatally shot in an attack officials called a brazen, brutal act of domestic terrorism.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation named the suspect as Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, 24, but said it was too early to speculate on a motive for the rampage, which comes at a time when U.S. military and law enforcement authorities are increasingly concerned about the threat posed by “lone wolves” to domestic targets.
NBC News reported that Abdulazeez was a naturalized American who was born in Kuwait. U.S. law enforcement officials said they were investigating whether he was inspired by Islamic State or a similar group.
Islamic State had threatened to step up violence in the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which ends on Friday.
Happy holidays. Have a nice Eid.
The SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks extremist groups, said that Abdulazeez blogged on Monday that “life is short and bitter” and Muslims should not miss an opportunity to “submit to Allah.” Reuters could not independently verify the blog postings.
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According to a resume believed to have been posted online by Abdulazeez, he attended high school in a Chattanooga suburb and graduated from the University of Tennessee with an engineering degree.
At least we still have our guns.
How many “lone wolves” make a pack? Or a religion?
So this one is internal terrorism as opposed to the previous ones. Is this because of the target or because the shooter’s name is Mohammod?
But that’s impossible. At marine bases aren’t there ‘Good guys with guns’ to stop this sort of thing?
What does the gun lobby say? If only the victims were allowed to carry guns they could have fought back.
The “lone wolf” idiom means that the perp was not a part of an organization and has no accomplices that should be tracked down and prosecuted, so your quip makes no sense. Unless you are implying that all Muslims are his accomplices and should be tracked down and prosecuted, a sentiment I am sure the author of this blog would condemn.
Z@5,
I was born into a Muslim family and wore a hijab for about a year. The Muslim half of my extended family are the nicest, most peaceful people you’d ever want to meet. But there’s something about religion, especially this one, especially now, which causes people to go off the rails. (Supply your own links to ISIS atrocities and fiery Mosque sermons.) As Irhad Manji and others have pointed out, the other two “abrahamic” religions, in their mainstream form, underwent a liberalisation, an “enlightenment”, an accomodation with modern life in which they lost their literalism. The Bible (old or new testaments) is no longer a strict guide to everyday life, something to emulate in the 21st century, but more of a set of myths, something to decorate church or synagogue windows and walls. Islam forbids such decoration. And the Quran and the hadiths are interpreted literally, to be strictly adhered to. Islam is the the Stalinist of the abrahamic religions. Individual Muslims (and a few minor sects) may adapt to modern life but Islam itself has never done so. Indeed, it is often held out by its adherents as the alternative to modern life.
That is the “organization” to which this “lone wolf” belonged. If the newspaper accounts are correct, he seems to have lapsed. He sought his “atonement” at the Chattanooga recruitment office.
Jean @ #2: It looks like that’s the case; regardless of what you do or why you do it, it’s only terrorism if you’re Islamic.
Some Christians have lost their literalism, but there are plenty that retain it. Some of them are running for President.
The difference is the pushback. Western societies have a more well-developed secular culture, which acts as a counter-weight. It’s not that our crazies are any less crazy. It’s just that we’re better at holding them back.
Give the American fundies control of the nation for two weeks without opposition and you’d have a country indistinguishable from Iran.
Guns and ‘mental illness’ will be invoked for every mass shooting. There seems to be an on-tap supply of apologists who will minimize the ideological aspect.
And the ‘enlightenment’ of the other Abrahamic tribes can be pretty damn’ thin. The Holy Books still say what they actually say, and any ambitious crackpot can read them. From David Koresh to the Haredi rock-throwers of Jerusalem.
None of that addresses the point of my comment, which was that your use of the metaphor was on par with stuff like “homicide bomber”. Literal lone wolves don’t belong to packs by definition. Metaphorical “lone wolves” are dangerous precisely because they don’t belong to a literal organization and so are harder to detect – the number of people involved in a conspiracy increases proportionally the likelihood that the conspiracy will be uncovered. Groups also tend to create ties to other groups that can be tracked. Calling someone “lone wolf” does not by itself imply that they were not influenced by (a strain of a) religion, it’s a description of their way of operation.
Didn’t the attacker at the Glasgow airport also have an engineering degree? It seems a disturbing number of terrorists do. Well, it’s certainly disturbing to me as somebody trained in engineering myself.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2009/12/buildabomber.html
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Engineers_and_woo#Terrorism
@10,
Your “lone wolf” is my “jihadist”. I.e., he’s no “lone wolf”. Cherchez la réligion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/18/us/chattanooga-gunmans-past-scoured-for-extremist-ties.html
Missed my point again. :p
And you continue to miss mine.
@ 3 dougthebox
“But that’s impossible. At marine bases aren’t there ‘Good guys with guns’ to stop this sort of thing?”
The shooting’s did not take place at a marine base. The first shots fired were at a recruitng office in a strip mall and the second where the 4 marines were killed was at a Marine Corps Reserve Center and Navy Operational Support Center with no manned guard post like you would find on a normal military base and pretty much only a fence for security. Definitely not a place that was likely to have an on-site armory like a military base.