Chattanooga Gunman Sent Text Containing Islamic Verse Declaring War, FBI Reveals; Family Says He Was Depressed

By: American Decency Staff

Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, the Kuwaiti-born American gunman whokilled five Marines last week, sent a text message linking to an Islamic verse that declares war just hours before the attack, the FBI revealed. The shooter's family claims he was suffering from depression.

"Whoever shows enmity to a friend of Mine, then I have declared war against him," the text reads, according to FBI agents who shared the information with The New York Times. The verse is one of the Hadith Qudsi, a quote from the Islamic prophet Muhammad which is not included in the Quran, but is considered just as holy.

Federal agents are trying to establish a motivation behind the attack, and have said they will be looking into different possible answers.

The FBI is investigating Abdulazeez, who was killed during the attack on two military sites in Chattanooga on Thursday. The 24-year-old shooter drove up in a rented Ford Mustang outside a shopping center and fired at the Marine Corps Reserve Center, before he drove six miles to the Navy Operational Support Center, where he fatally shot five Marines.

"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 last week.

The Daily Beast noted that Abdulazeez authored a short-lived blog and wrote about Islam a number of times leading up to the attack. In one of his blogs, he wrote about life being a test "designed to separate the inhabitants of Paradise from the inhabitants of Hellfire."
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