Tennessee school bus crashes, kills at least six children

A bus carrying dozens of elementary school students crashed in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Monday, killing at least six children and sending 23 people to a local hospital with injuries, authorities said.

Five children were found dead on the bus and another died at a hospital, said Melydia Clewell, spokeswoman for the Hamilton County District Attorney's office.

Rescue teams were still going through the bus so the number of fatalities could change, she said. There are two or three children at the hospital "who could go either way," she said.

Students on the bus, which carried as many as 35 passengers, were in kindergarten through fifth grade, a spokesman for the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office said. That would make them roughly ages 5 to 10.

Asked about the crash following a budget hearing in Nashville, Governor Bill Haslam said the state would offer its assistance.

"It's a sad situation anytime there's a school bus with children involved, which there is in this case," he said.

Photographs issued by the Chattanooga Fire Department showed the bus on its side, wrapped around a tree.

The bus driver is being questioned and cooperating with investigators, the Chattanooga Police said on Twitter.

Twenty-three people were transported in ambulances to a local hospital, and the last patient was extricated from the bus, the fire department said.

Police Chief Fred Fletcher called the accident "every public safety professional's worst nightmare," the Times Free Press reported.

Two bloodied students laid on stretchers in a front yard nearly an hour after the crash receiving attention from first responders, while others not taken to the hospital appeared dazed with cuts on their faces, the newspaper said on its website. (Reporting by Frank McGurty and Daniel Trotta in New York; Editing by Howard Goller and Lisa Shumaker)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Sailor's death lifts toll in Chattanooga shooting rampage

CHATTANOOGA -- The death toll in the mass shooting of US military personnel in Tennessee rose to five Saturday as investigators pursued the motive behind the rampage.

In a brief statement, the US Navy said a petty officer succumbed overnight to wounds he sustained in Thursday's attack on two military centers in Chattanooga.

The Navy did not identify the sailor, but relatives named him as Petty Officer Randall Smith, a father of three daughters who had recently re-enlisted and transferred to Chattanooga.

"It's hard to understand how somebody can hurt somebody that's serving for you, for your freedom, for your safety," his step-grandmother Darlene Proxmire told WANE television in Indiana.

Four Marines also died in the attack -- which authorities are treating as "an act of terrorism" -- before the gunman, Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez died in a shootout with police.

The FBI has asked foreign intelligence agencies to help trace Abdulazeez's movements and activities abroad, and analysts are monitoring his activity on social media.

The 24-year-old was a naturalized US citizen born in Kuwait.

"Every one of our resources are being devoted to this investigation," Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke told CNN.

But the FBI warned against jumping to conclusions, after Michael McCaul, chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, branded the assault "an ISIS-inspired attack."

"At this time, we have no indication that he was inspired by or directed by anyone other than himself," FBI special agent Ed Reinhold said, referring to Abdulazeez.

"We obviously want to know what his thoughts were and who else he was associating with."

The shooting has jarred the city of 168,000, where the Islamic Society of Greater Chattanooga condemned the attack and cancelled its end-of-Ramadan Eid al-Fitr celebrations out of respect for the victims.

- Troubled past? -

Going into the weekend, more details about Abdulazeez -- a University of Tennessee engineering graduate and mixed martial arts enthusiast who grew up in a middle-class neighborhood -- slowly emerged.

Investigators were looking at Abdulazeez's foreign travel, with a reported trip to Jordan last year of particular interest.

There was evidence, however, that he came from a troubled family. Divorce papers filed by his mother alleged that his father beat his wife and five children.

The father was also reportedly investigated for ties to a terrorist group, but ultimately was cleared.

Abdulazeez's only known brush with the law was in April, when he was arrested for driving under the influence.

He briefly worked at a nuclear power plant in Ohio in May 2013, but was fired after failing to meet minimum employment requirements, a spokeswoman for Perry Nuclear Power Plant operator FirstEnergy said.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has asked for recommendations on how to boost security for troops and civilians at military installations.

But state governors in Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas signed executive orders that would allow US military personnel to carry firearms at recruiting centers.

Such facilities are often located in shopping malls, with no special security measures and recruiting staff inside unarmed.

"After the recent shooting in Chattanooga, it has become clear that our military personnel must have the ability to defend themselves against these type of attacks on our own soil," Texas Governor Greg Abbott said.

Republican presidential hopefuls Jeb Bush, Donald Trump and Scott Walker called for the lifting of a prohibition on military personnel carrying firearms at recruiting venues.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Four Marines killed in US shooting rampage, gunman dead

CHATTANOOGA, United States – A 24-year-old gunman opened fire at two US military centers in Tennessee on Thursday, killing four Marines in a rampage that officials said was being investigated as an act of "domestic terrorism."

The shooter -- identified by the FBI as 24-year-old Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez -- was himself shot dead in a firefight with police. Three people were injured -- a police officer, a Marine Corps recruiter and a Navy sailor.

The incident served as an ugly reminder of other deadly shootings at US military installations, including a 2009 rampage at Fort Hood that left 13 dead and a 2013 attack at the Navy Yard in Washington that left 12 dead.

It also came amid lingering fears about the threat posed by "lone wolf" attackers in the United States, though the motive in Thursday's attacks was not immediately clear.

President Barack Obama called the shootings "heartbreaking" and asked Americans to pray for the relatives of the victims.

"It is incomprehensible to see what happened and the way that individuals who proudly serve our country were treated," Chattanooga mayor Andy Berke said, praising the quick response by law enforcement to prevent further loss of life.

"Today is a nightmare for the city of Chattanooga."

Bill Killian, the US federal prosecutor in that part of Tennessee, said the shootings were being treated as an "act of domestic terrorism."

"We are looking at every possible avenue -- whether it was terrorism, whether it was domestic, international or whether it was a simple criminal act," FBI special agent Ed Reinhold said.

The FBI said later that it was "premature to speculate on the motives of the shooter at this time."

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the FBI would take the lead in the "national security investigation of this heinous attack on members of our military."

'Average Chattanooga family'

Abdulazeez, a Muslim, lived in a leafy suburb of Chattanooga. US media reported that he was a naturalized US citizen born in Kuwait.

He graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a degree in engineering.

"Sadly, it appears that the shooter was a 2012 graduate from UTC. Our thoughts are with those affected by today's tragedy," the university said on Twitter

A woman who attended Red Bank High School with Abdulazeez said he was a quiet kid, and well-liked.

"He was friendly, funny, kind," Kagan Wagner told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. "I never would have thought it would be him."

"They were your average Chattanooga family," Wagner said.

Scott Schrader, who coached Abdulazeez in mixed martial arts, told CNN he "seemed like the all-American kid."

In an apparent blog post written Monday, he said Muslims should not let "the opportunity to submit to allah... pass you by," according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist activity on social media.

Berke told CNN there had not been "any indication" that an attack was imminent.

Two targets

The Marine Corps confirmed that all four victims were killed at a Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center in the late morning. About 40 minutes earlier, the gunman had opened fire at a recruitment center several miles away.

Berke said officers had described to him a "harrowing and violent scene -- bullets whizzing around them."

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus offered their condolences to the families of the victims, with Mabus calling the attacks "both devastating and senseless."

The Department of Homeland Security said it had ordered security be stepped up at "certain federal facilities, out of an abundance of caution."

'All shook up'

Erica Wright said she witnessed the shooting at the recruiting center through the window of a hair salon two doors down.

"We heard one pop, really loud pop. So we went to the door to see what it was," Wright told CNN. "We saw a guy in a silver Mustang just unloading on the naval recruiting place."

Wright said she watched in horror as the man reloaded his gun and opened fire again. He then backed up his car, pulled up to another part of the recruiting center and started shooting again.

"We're all shook up," she said. "Never expected something like this."

Bullet holes could be seen in the windows of the recruiting center and shell casings littered the parking lot.

Senator Bob Corker, a former mayor of Chattanooga, said he was "heartbroken."

"This is a difficult day for Tennesseans and our thoughts and prayers are with all affected by this tragedy," he said in a statement.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com