| The Daily Mail does the reporting that American newspapers (again) haven't been doing. Some significant snippage. And as is usual for a Brit national paper, lots of photos at the link. |
Two sources familiar with the case, including a law enforcement official, said some of Mohammad Abdulazeez's writings are more than a year old and are consistent with a suicidal mindset, reported CNN.
While Abdulazeez sometimes expressed misgivings about US policy in the Mideast, his feelings didn't seem extreme and there was no indication he was involved with terrorist groups while in Jordan, a family representative said.
There was also no immediate explanation for why he targeted military sites in the attack.
| There are two plausible ones: one, he was a radical Islamist, and two, he was suicidal-depressed, perhaps schizoaffective. Those aren't mutually exclusive... |
| James, did he say it in English or in Arabic? |
The gunman's journal, according to the Abdulazeez family spokesman speaking exclusively to ABC News, paints a portrait of a troubled youth who wrote about committing suicide and 'becoming a martyr' as far back as 2013, around the time when he was fired from his job because of his addiction to prescription pills and illegal narcotics.
The family representative said the electrical engineering student was addicted to sleeping pills, painkillers, opioids, marijuana, as well as alcohol. In his diary, according to the spokesperson, Abdulazeez wrote about how he struggled to work a 12-hour night shift at a plant and had to take pills so he could fall asleep during the day.
Abdulazeez was also considering filing for bankruptcy because he was heavily in debt.
The family representative said Abdulazeez was first treated by a child psychiatrist for depression when he was 12 or 13 years old. The 24-year-old also fought drug and alcohol abuse, spending several months in Jordan last year to help clean himself up.
| It's certainly possible that he was schizoaffective or completely schizophrenic. Those manifest early, are often mis-diagnosed, and frequently come to crisis when the person is in his 20s... |
‘They do not know of anything else to explain it,’ said the representative Sunday.
Petty said that his friend was a heavy smoker of marijuana and that his parents would call up to check about where their son was because of his substance abuse.
The claim fits a pattern of behavior by Abdulazeez that includes a drunken driving arrest earlier this year and the loss of a job over a failed drug test. Several years ago, relatives tried to have Abdulazeez admitted to an in-patient program for drug and alcohol abuse but a health insurer refused to approve the expense, said the representative.
Two days before the deadly shootings in Chattanooga, Abdulazeez rented a silver Mustang convertible, arrived at a local mosque and took a friend on a joy ride that lasted until 3am.
‘He bragged about [the car], and was showing it off to friends about how fast it would go,’ the Abdulazeez family spokesperson said Sunday.
'He was medicated like many children are. Through high school and college he did a better job sometimes than others staying with it,' the representative said.
Abdulazeez had spent several months in Jordan last year under a mutual agreement with his parents to help him get away from drugs, alcohol and a group of friends who relatives considered a bad influence, the representative said.
Counterterrorism investigators continued to interview Abdulazeez's acquaintances and delve into his visit to Jordan, looking for clues to whom or what might have influenced him and set off the bloodshed. Jordanian government officials told CNN that they were speaking to the shooter's extended family about his time in the country.
FBI spokesman Jason Pack declined comment on whether investigators were pursuing mental health records for Abdulazeez. But FBI Special Agent Ed Reinhold told reporters at a recent news conference about the case that agents were looking into all aspects of his life and had not yet turned up any connections to Islamic terrorist groups.
The representative said Abdulazeez had owned guns for years, going back to when he was a child shooting at squirrels and targets, and called himself an 'Arab redneck' or 'Muslim redneck.'
A year after graduating from college with an engineering degree, Abdulazeez lost a job at a nuclear power plant in Ohio in May 2013 because of what a federal official described as a failed drug test. Recently, Abdulazeez had begun working the night shift at a manufacturing plant and was taking medication to help with problems sleeping in the daytime, the representative said, and he also had a prescription for muscle relaxants because of a back problem.
It's unknown what substances were in the man's system at the time of the killings, but toxicology tests should provide an answer.
After returning from his time overseas, Abdulazeez was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence in the pre-dawn hours on April 20. A police report said he told a Chattanooga officer he also was with friends who had been smoking marijuana. The report said Abdulazeez, who had white powder on his nose when he was stopped, told the officer he also had sniffed powdered caffeine.
The arrest was 'important' because Abdulazeez was deeply embarrassed and seemed to sink further into depression following the episode, the representative said. Some close relatives learned of the charge only days before the shooting, the person said.