Randall Smith, a logistics specialist in the U.S. Navy, died early Saturday, bringing the death toll in the Chattanooga killings to five.
Smith, 26, grew up in the northwest Ohio city of Paulding. The petty officer 2nd class sailor earned a baseball scholarship to play at college after high school, but decided to join the Navy after being sidelined by a shoulder injury. He got married a few months after signing up, and had three young daughters. "He loved his family, baseball and the Navy," said his step-grandmother Darlene Proxmire. Smith joined the Navy because he was inspired by the service of his late grandfather. "He was an awesome young man and he's going to be missed very badly by a lot of people," Proxmire said.
U.S. officials confirmed the identities of the deceased Marines: Thomas Sullivan, of Springfield, Mass.; Skip Wells, from Marietta, Ga.; David Wyatt, of Hixson, Tenn.; and Carson Holmquist, of Grantsburg, Wis.
Meanwhile, the family of the shooter alleged to have carried out the deadly attacks expressed its condolences in a statement, "There are no words to describe our shock, horror and grief. The person who committed this horrible crime was not the son we knew and loved," reports The Wall Street Journal.
Mohammad Abdulazeez had a handgun and two long guns in his possession when police killed him Thursday at a Navy Operational Support Center, and another rifle was seized when police searched his home, bringing the total number of weapons associated with him to four. The 24-year-old engineering graduate wore a "load-bearing vest" that allowed him to carry extra ammunition, said Ed Reinhold, special agent in charge of the regional FBI office, according to News Channel 3.
The FBI said it continued to investigate it as an act of terrorism and that it was "premature" to speculate on the motive. "We are exploring all travel that he has done and we have asked our intelligence partners throughout the world to provide us with any information they may have," Ed Reinhold, FBI special agent in charge, said during a news conference, reports First Post.
