(REUTERS) President Barack Obama said on Thursday (July 16) that U.S. officials would be thorough and prompt about getting answers after a suspected gunman opened fire at two military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killing four Marines.
“It is a heartbreaking circumstance for these individuals who have served our country with great valor to be killed in this fashion,” Obama said in a statement from the Oval Office.
The suspected gunman was fatally shot in the incident.
“Obviously, when you have an attack on a U.S. military facility, then we have to make sure that we have all the information necessary to make an assessment in terms of how this attack took place, and what further precautions we can take in the future,” said Obama.
The FBI 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.
Bill Killian, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, said earlier, the shooting was being treating this as an act of domestic terrorism, adding that no official determination of the nature of the crime had yet been made and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has not ruled anything out.
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NBC reported the gunman was a naturalized American born in Kuwait.
U.S. officials said law enforcement authorities are investigating whether he was inspired by Islamic State or a similar militant group.
The Department of Homeland Security was stepping up security at certain federal facilities and supporting the FBI investigation, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement.
The shootings began at about 10:45 a.m. local time and ended about 30 minutes later.
The suspect, seen driving an open-top Ford Mustang, is believed to have first gone to a joint military recruiting center in a strip mall and sprayed it with gunfire, riddling the glass facade with bullet holes.
The gunman then drove off to a Naval Reserve Center about 6 miles (10 km) away, fatally shooting the four Marines before being shot and killed in a firefight with police.
Three others were wounded in the attacks, including a police officer reported in stable condition and a Marine.
Chattanooga is a city of about 173,000 people along the Tennessee River in the southeast of the state.
