U.S. investigating Chattanooga shooter's past for extremist ties

(Image credit: Jason Davis/Getty Images)

published 17 July 2015

Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, the Kuwaiti-born naturalized U.S. citizen authorities say killed four Marines in Thursday attacks in Chattanooga, Tennessee, traveled to Jordan for about seven months last year, a senior intelligence official told The New York Times. The 24-year-old may have also made a trip to Yemen. These revelations come as investigators search Abdulazeez's computer, cellphone, and social media accounts to determine if he had any contact with extremist groups before carrying out the attack.

"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 senior intelligence official told the Times.

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Samantha Rollins is TheWeek.com's news editor. She has previously worked for The New York Times and TIME and is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

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