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Chattanooga Shooter’s Identity Release A Bad Idea? FBI Fears Mass Shooting Copycats, Others Say ISIS Terrorism

By Patrick Frye
Published on: 08:42 PST, Jul 16, 2015

The Chattanooga shooting occurred less than half a day ago and already the topic is being politicized. Some say the gun-free zones are at fault for the deaths of multiple U.S. marines, and others are already talking about Islamaphobia. But some say the name of Chattanooga shooter Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez should never have been released in the first place since the mass shooting could inspire copycats.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez seemed to be targeting U.S. military recruitment centers, and multiple U.S. Marines were shot during the attack. Reports say that authorities are serving search warrants at the deceased shooter’s home in hopes of finding some indication of his motivation in today’s attack.

Shortly before the release of the Chattanooga’s shooter’s name, some claimed the media should remain silent.

It is believed the number of mass shootings are increasing partially due to the notoriety offered by the media.

The FBI would agree with this assessment, and last year the FBI launched a “Don’t Name Them” campaign.

“When the media covers it, it unfortunately puts ideas in people’s heads,” said Chris Combs, special agent in charge of the San Antonio FBI field office.

“We think that encourages future attackers because they say I can get that fame that notoriety by doing that,” said Dr. Pete Blair, according to KSAT. “We understand that the events have to be covered, but it shouldn’t be a glamor piece making this person the center point of the story. We’d much rather see stories about the heroes and the victims and those sorts of things.”

At this point, it is unclear whether Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez was motivated by past mass shootings or if it was an act of terrorism. According to Bill Gavin, former assistant director of the FBI’s New York office, the FBI is working with the Joint Terrorism Task Force to examine Abdulazeez’s history in order to determine this motive.

The latest reports say he is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Kuwait.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee Bill Killian said, “We are treating this as an act of domestic terrorism.”

At the same time, they have indicated there is no obvious evidence that the Chattanooga shooter committed an act of domestic terrorism.

On social media, many have scoffed at the notion that the Chattanooga shooting is not terrorism.

Others have pointed out how an ISIS Twitter account mentioned the Chattanooga shooting.

Some on social media claim this tweet was made before the shooting, which took place between 10:30 and 10:45 this morning, but this belief is apparently based upon misinterpreting the Twitter time stamps since ISIS’ tweet was made three hours after the shooting began based upon Chattanooga’s local time in the Eastern Time Zone.

[Image via KSAT]

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