This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/7087
July 17, 2015
MIM: Just another Muslim killer 'acting normally' like the ISIS gunman in Tunesia and the ISIS beheader in France.
" 'They were your average Chattanooga family,' "
He was a practicing Muslim, and would take breaks from training as a Mixed Martial Arts fighter to pray in his coach's office.
Fellow worshipers had seem him in a local mosque up to a month before the attack, but it is not known if or how he may have been radicalized.
Those who prayed alongside him said he was acting normally and there was nothing to suggest he was preparing to do something so violent.
Almir Dizdarevic, a former coach, told CNN he had traveled overseas to the Middle East in the last two years and had reportedly 'moved home'. However it is unknown where in the area he visited and why he was there.
Abdulazeez was a naturalized citizen who was brought up in Jordan and came to the United States with his family in 1996.
Abdulazeez's father, Youssuf Abdullazeez, was appointed as a 'special policeman' for Chattanooga's Department of Public Works in March 2005, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.
He was investigated several years ago for allegedly giving money to a group associated with terrorism, the New York Times reported.
Citing unnamed law enforcement officials, the paper said the gunman's father was at one point on a terrorist watch list and was questioned while on a trip overseas.
Excerpt from WaPo article"Chattanooga Gunman Came From Middle-Class Muslim Family"
(Sister)Yasmeen told the Chattanooga Free Press in 2010 that some students harassed her but that she wasn't afraid to confront people about their attitudes toward her religious beliefs. "I'm not afraid to go straight toward them and ask them, ‘Do you really know what Islam is?' " she said. "There's this misconception that Islam is a violent religion. Muslims are actually peaceful."
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/7087