Local Military Recruiters Keep Doors Open Despite Tenn. Shooting
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PLANTATION (CBSMiami/AP) – Future soldiers, with dreams to protect and defend the U.S. are still making their way in and out of recruiting offices around South Florida – despite the tragedy in Tennessee.
Carlos Preira was looking into the Marines, but now he's looking for answers.
"I really want to know the details of it. I just left from the recruiting stations and I'm trying to find out details now," he said.
A gunman unleashed a barrage of gunfire at two military facilities a few miles apart in Chattanooga on Thursday, killing at least four Marines, officials said. The gunman was also killed.
A U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity identified the gunman as 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez of Hixton, Tennessee, and said he was believed to have been born in Kuwait, though it was unclear whether he was a U.S. or Kuwaiti citizen.
The attacks took places minutes apart, with the gunman stopping his car and opening fire first at a military recruiting center for all five branches of the military, then apparently driving to a Navy-Marine training center 7 miles away. The attacks were over within a half-hour.
The Marine Corps said four Marines were killed, and a fifth Marine was wounded in the leg, treated at a hospital and released. Also, a police officer was shot in the ankle, Mayor Andy Berke said.
Authorities gave no details on how the gunman was killed.
Marine recruiters in South Florida are planning briefings as more information comes in, but they said "the safety of our future marines is paramount."
An army spokesman in Miami told CBS4 "their soldiers trained to be aware and react, and that all operations are going on as normal at recruiting offices with safety measures in place."