WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — “At this time we are treating him as a home-grown violent extremist,” Reinhold said. “We believe he acted on his own that day.”
On July 16, 24-year-old Abdulazeez attacked two Chattanooga Naval Reserve facilities and killed five service members before being neutralized by law enforcement.
On Tuesday, US media reported that analysis of Abdulazeez’s electronic devices showed that in 2013 he searched for videos by a radical American member of al-Qaeda Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed by a US drone strike in 2011.
“We are pursuing that as a possibility, but it is early into the investigation to determine,” he said.
Media reports said that Abdulazeez’s uncle has been detained in Jordan since Friday as the US authorities investigate the shooter’s trip to the Middle East in 2014.
“The FBI will explore any possibility and every relative and associate that he has no matter where they are located,” Reinhold stated.
US authorities have previously stated Abdulazeez has not been listed in the US terrorism database. However, several years ago his father had been probed for possible links to a terrorist organization.
