Four Marines shot dead and gunman killed in Tennessee

The Pentagon has said four US military personnel were killed and one was wounded in two separate shooting incidents in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Thursday, and the US Marine Corps confirmed the four killed were Marines.

“We can confirm that four DoD [Defense Department] service members were tragically killed and one wounded in two separate shootings in Chattanooga, Tennessee today,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

It said the shootings took place at a Network Operations Support Center operated by the US Navy and at an armed forces recruiting centre.

The Pentagon and Marine Corps said the names of the victims would be released after their next of kin had been notified.

A US official said the gunman had been identified as 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez.

He was believed to have been born in Kuwait, and it was unclear whether he was an American or Kuwaiti citizen.

He was from Hixson, Tennessee, which is just a few miles across the river from Chattanooga.

‘Incomprehensible’

Chattanooga’s mayor described the killings as “incomprehensible”.

Mayor Andy Berke told a news conference the gunman had also been killed but did not say how.

“I want to say again, it is incomprehensible to see what happened and the way that individuals who proudly serve our country were treated,” he said.

“As a city, we will respond to this with every available resource we have.”

Earlier, Bill Killian, a US attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, said: “We are treating this as an act of domestic terrorism.”

Witnesses and local media reports said the gunman, driving an open-top Ford Mustang, fired at two locations including a military recruiting centre and a US Navy Reserve centre, about six miles (10km) apart. Witnesses said they heard scores of shots.

A White House spokesman said President Barack Obama had been told about the shooting.

“The president has been briefed by his national security staff on the Chattanooga shooting and will continue to get updates as warranted,” said spokesman Eric Schultz.

Lockdowns had been put in place at businesses, a college and other facilities near the shooting sites.

A witness at a glass company near the Navy centre said the shooting there started at about 11am local time.

‘Multiple shots fired’

“We have heard multiple shots fired,” said Marilyn Hutcheson of Binswanger Glass installation and repair service.

Near the recruiting centre, a witness said the gunman appeared to be calm.

“Everybody was at a standstill and as soon as he pulled away everyone scrabbled trying to make sure everyone was OK,” said Erica Wright, who works two doors down from the recruiting centre.

A photo of the centre broadcast on cable TV news channel CNN showed its entrance riddled with bullet holes.

A Marine was wounded at the centre, a military official said.

The shooting did not injure any army recruiters, nor did any bullets penetrate the army area of the recruiting centre, according to Brian Lepley, a spokesman with the US Army Recruiting Command in Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Federal authorities were also on the scene, local news reports said. The Tennessee Highway Patrol also assisted local law enforcement, said spokesman John Harmon.

The city, along the Tennessee River, is in the southeastern section of the state just north of the Georgia border. Just over 173,000 people live there, according to a 2013 estimate from the US Census Bureau.

Agencies