Chattanooga shooter’s family says depression, drugs led to massacre

Several years ago, relatives tried to have Abdulazeez admitted to an in-patient program for drug and alcohol abuse, but a health insurer refused to approve the expense, the representative said.

"He was medicated, like many children are. Through high school and college he did a better job sometimes than others staying with it," the representative said.

Abdulazeez had spent several months in Jordan last year under an agreement with his parents to help him get away from drugs, alcohol and a group of friends whom relatives considered a bad influence, the representative said.

Counterterrorism investigators continue to interview Abdulazeez's acquaintances and delve into his visit to Jordan, looking for clues to who or what might have influenced him and led to the bloodshed.

FBI spokesman Jason Pack declined to comment on whether investigators are pursuing mental health records for Abdulazeez. FBI Special Agent Ed Reinhold told reporters at the most recent news conference about the case that agents were looking into all aspects of his life and have not yet turned up any connections to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant or other groups with a similar ideology. 

Abdulazeez opened fire at a military recruiting office and a Navy-Marine operations center a few miles apart on Thursday, killing four Marines, law enforcement officials say; a sailor wounded in the attack died Saturday.

While Abdulazeez sometimes expressed misgivings about U.S. policy in the Middle East, his feelings didn't seem extreme, and there was no indication that while in Jordan he was involved with groups that follow violent ideologies, the family representative said, but there was no easy explanation for why he targeted military sites in the attack.

The representative said Abdulazeez owned guns for years, going back to when he was a child shooting at squirrels and targets, and called himself an "Arab redneck" or "Muslim redneck."

In May 2013, a year after graduating from college with an engineering degree, he lost a job at a nuclear power plant in Ohio because of what a federal official described as a failed drug test.

Recently, Abdulazeez began working a night shift at a manufacturing plant and was taking medication to help with problems sleeping in the daytime, the representative said, adding that he also had a prescription for muscle relaxants because of a back problem.

It's unknown what substances were in his system at the time of the killings, but toxicology tests should provide an answer.

After returning from his time overseas, Abdulazeez was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence in the predawn hours on April 20. A police report said he told a Chattanooga officer he had been with friends who were smoking marijuana. The report said Abdulazeez, who had white powder on his nose when he was stopped, told the officer he had sniffed powdered caffeine.

The arrest was "important" because Abdulazeez was deeply embarrassed and seemed to sink further into depression after the episode, the representative said. Some close relatives learned of the charge only days before the shooting, the person said.

Bassam Issa, the president of the Islamic Society of Greater Chattanooga, said he knew nothing of Abdulazeez's problems, despite knowing his father well through the mosque. But, he added, that is not surprising. Drinking alcohol and using drugs are strictly forbidden in the Islamic faith.

"In our culture, if a son or daughter is having those sorts of problems, they keep it a secret because of the shame," he said. "As a parent, you always want to be able to say your child is making you proud, not that they are struggling."

Abdul Ofoli, a former professor of Abdulazeez's who saw him at their mosque six days before the killings, said he didn't seem different after returning from Jordan last year or during their final encounter.

"I just saw the same friendly guy as before," said Ofoli, who teaches electrical engineering at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, from which Abdulazeez graduated in 2012.

Ofoli, who sponsors the university's Muslim Student Association, said Abdulazeez wasn't very involved with the group, to his knowledge, and rarely said much in class but was a good student.

"He was brilliant," he said.

The Associated Press