He's got a history of extreme devotion to jihad. His writing and pious language already indicate religious motives, although authorities want hard evidence of radicalization.
At WaPo, "Marines’ killer set off no red flags":
As investigators sought to decipher the motives of the gunman who targeted U.S. troops in Chattanooga, Tenn., they also began to confront the uncomfortable question of whether counterterrorism agencies are reaching the practical limits of what they can do to detect homegrown plots.More.
On Friday, federal officials said they were investigating the shootings Thursday in Chattanooga as a possible terrorist attack but were a long way from drawing conclusions. They said the gunman, 24-year-old Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, had not previously drawn the attention of authorities, save for a drunken-driving charge a few months ago.
On Saturday, the Navy said a male petty officer died at 2:17 a.m. of wounds received in Thursday’s shooting — bringing the number killed in the rampage to five. The sailor’s name had not been released.
Abdulazeez’s travels to the Middle East, his acquisition of several firearms and his recent online musings about the meaning of Islam were coming under fresh examination as hundreds of federal agents sought to reconstruct his movements and mind-set.
“At this time, we have no indication he was inspired by or directed by anyone other than himself,” Edward Reinhold, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s office in Knoxville, Tenn., told reporters Friday.
U.S. officials said that devices including a computer and cellphone believed to have belonged to Abdulazeez were being examined by FBI technicians in a laboratory at Quantico, Va.
The FBI said that Abdulazeez was armed with at least two rifles or shotguns, as well as a handgun, when he opened fire on a military recruiting center and a Navy Reserve facility in Chattanooga. Authorities did not give a more detailed description of the firearms or say how he obtained them.
“Some of the weapons were purchased legally and some of them may not have been,” Reinhold said. U.S. counterterrorism officials have become increasingly worried about the ability of the Islamic State and al-Qaeda offshoots to attract and radicalize followers in the United States. At the same time, authorities have expressed concern that their ability to detect such contact has been eroded by the spread of encrypted communication.
Federal authorities have arrested more than 10 people over the past six weeks who are suspected of having ties to the Islamic State. U.S. officials said the crackdown was part of an effort to suppress a surge in suspected plots aimed at unleashing violence on U.S. targets during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ended the day of the attacks in Chattanooga.
But officials have also said that homegrown radicals have gotten better at hiding their intentions and cloaking their contacts with overseas groups, despite a massive expansion in U.S. surveillance capabilities since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks...
Plus, "Tenn. gunman used drugs, struggled with clash of faith."
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