CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- As the shooting rampage at two military facilities claimed another victim Saturday, states across the nation sought to bolster security for military recruiters by putting them into safer locations or authorizing them to be armed.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith, who only recently had re-enlisted in the Navy, died just after 2 a.m. Eastern time Saturday from his wounds, becoming the fifth service member killed in the shootings at a military reserve center and a nearby recruiting center.
Two other people, a Marine and a Chattanooga police officer, remained hospitalized Saturday with wounds described as non-life-threatening.
Four Marines died in the attack Thursday: Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan of Hampden, Mass.; Staff Sgt. David Wyatt of Burke County, N.C.; Sgt. Carson Holmquist of Polk, Wis.; and Lance Cpl. Squire Wells of Cobb, Ga.
The gunman, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, 24, was fatally shot in a face-off with police officers. The correct spelling of the gunman's name was still in dispute, with federal officials and records giving at least four variations.
In the half-hour rampage Thursday morning, Abdulazeez fired first on an armed services recruiting center in a strip mall and then drove to a naval reserve center where he killed the Marines and fatally wounded Smith.
Smith, a 26-year-old logistics specialist who was married and the father of three young daughters, was shot three times, with rounds hitting his liver and colon.
Darlene Proxmire, Smith's step-grandmother, said Saturday that despite the severity of the sailor's wounds, he had been able to give his wife the thumbs-up sign in the hours after the attack.
"He loved his family," Proxmire said in a phone interview. "His wife and his three little girls were his whole world."
Smith's family members said he had grown up in Paulding, in northwestern Ohio, and played baseball at Paulding High School. A high school yearbook also said he ran cross-country and was a member of the student council and the prom decorating committee.
Proxmire said Smith had been awarded a scholarship to play baseball at Defiance College in Ohio, a small liberal-arts school affiliated with the United Church of Christ. He was unable to play, however, after he suffered a shoulder injury.
He joined the Navy shortly afterward. Smith, a reservist serving on active duty, had recently re-enlisted, she said.
Later Saturday, the shooter's family offered sympathy, condolences and prayers.
"There are no words to describe our shock, horror, and grief," said the statement, provided by a lawyer representing the Abdulazeez family. "The person who committed this horrible crime was not the son we knew and loved. For many years, our son suffered from depression. It grieves us beyond belief to know that his pain found its expression in this heinous act of violence."
The family members added that they are cooperating with the investigation.
"We understand there are many legitimate questions that need to be answered," the statement said. "Having said this, now is the time to reflect on the victims and their families, and we feel it would be inappropriate to say anything more other than that we are truly sorry for their loss."
GOP governors take steps
As of Saturday, Republican governors in at least five states had authorized their National Guard commanders to arm National Guard personnel at military bases, and in some cases, at recruiting offices.
Separately, Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed an executive order Saturday closing the state's six storefront National Guard recruitment offices and directed staff members to move to National Guard armories.
The order, in which Scott invoked the threat of attacks inspired by the Islamic State extremist group, also known as ISIS, also said Florida would work to streamline the process in which members of the National Guard apply for concealed-weapons licenses so that they can legally be armed at work sites.
"The state will take any and every measure available to secure military personnel against the planned attacks of ISIS, including but not limited to securing the work areas and recruiting stations for the Florida National Guard," the executive order said.
Scott said National Guard troops will return to the storefront centers once officials determine how to improve security, which might include installing bullet-resistant glass.
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said Saturday that he would authorize the adjutant general of the Texas National Guard to begin arming Guard soldiers at military facilities in Texas.
Abbott's order also applies to National Guard recruiting centers, although Guard commanders were meeting Saturday to determine whether they will make changes to their recruiting operations and locations. One of the options the National Guard in Texas is considering is whether to relocate personnel at recruitment offices to National Guard bases, as Scott in Florida has ordered, officials said.
"After the recent shooting in Chattanooga, it has become clear that our military personnel must have the ability to defend themselves against these type of attacks on our own soil," Abbott said in a statement. "Arming the National Guard at these bases will not only serve as a deterrent to anyone wishing to do harm to our servicemen and women, but will enable them to protect those living and working on the base."
On Friday, the governors of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana had issued similar executive orders, with Indiana's governor following suit Saturday.
"I will not permit our citizen-soldiers to remain unable to defend themselves and our citizens at facilities in our state," said Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.
The authorizations to carry weapons in Oklahoma and Louisiana do not apply to all Guard personnel, but to certain members who will be identified by commanders.
"It is painful enough when we lose members of our armed forces when they are sent in harm's way, but it is unfathomable that they should be vulnerable for attack in our own communities," Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said in a statement. She issued an executive order that allowed the state's adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Robbie Asher, to arm certain full-time Guard personnel as he deemed necessary at Guard bases and recruiting offices.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal issued his own executive order authorizing the adjutant general to identify and arm certain National Guard personnel. His order stated that the uniforms worn by National Guard members "should not make them targets for terrorism without having the ability to defend themselves and other peaceful, law abiding citizens."
In announcing his decision to arm National Guard members at recruiting stations and military installations, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson called such facilities "a clear target."
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., issued a statement Saturday commemorating the service of Wyatt, who graduated from high school in Russellville.
Boozman said Wyatt served his country honorably and gave his life in defense of American freedom. The lawmaker also said the country can't forget that threats to the U.S. exist even away from combat zones.
Text message examined
The FBI said Saturday that it was investigating whether Abdulazeez sent a text message to a friend hours before his rampage that included a link to an Islamic verse saying, "Whosoever shows enmity to a friend of Mine, then I have declared war against him."
The friend who received the text message told Reuters that he thought nothing of the text at the time, but now wonders if it was a hint of the Thursday attack.
FBI technicians are examining his computer and other electronic devices in a laboratory at Quantico, Va., to trace his communications and the websites he visited.
The bureau also has expanded its investigation into a trip Abdulazeez made to Jordan in 2014, dispatching agents to the country and interviewing Jordanian officials about the gunman's contacts, a law enforcement official said.
"All indications from the interviews is that there is something different about him after he returned home," said the law enforcement official. "He was different but it does not appear that he was showing the typical outward signs of someone who was going to lash out violently. It does not appear from the interviews that he was saying a lot of anti-U.S. things to his friends."
Interviews the authorities have conducted with the gunman's friends have shown that he liked to go to shooting ranges. "It was more of a hobby for him -- there's no indication that he was going there to prepare for an attack."
The law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Saturday that the FBI has begun a second round of interviews with the gunman's friends and associates in Tennessee.
Investigators are checking the text message, not only to verify it, but also to see if it provides any motivations for Abdulazeez.
So far, the authorities have found no evidence that he was part of a larger network of terrorists.
Abdulazeez's father had been investigated by the FBI in 1994 and again in 2002 for donating to Palestinian groups suspected of having ties to terrorism, but U.S. officials said the father was removed from a terrorism watch list a decade ago.
Muslim concerns
Back in Chattanooga, a city that prides itself on strong ties among people of different faiths, some Muslims feared the community's perception of them has changed after the shootings.
"We, our kids, feel 100 percent American and Chattanoogan," said Mohsin Ali, a children's psychiatrist and a member of the Islamic Society of Greater Chattanooga. "Now they are wondering if that is how people still look at them."
Valencia Brewer, the wife of a Baptist minister, knows how she'll try to see Muslims: "I think the way you have to look at it is this was an individual person. You can't point at all Muslims because of this."
Ali and Brewer were among more than 1,000 people who attended a memorial service Friday night at a Baptist church for the victims. Ali, one of the speakers, railed against Abdulazeez as a "murderer" who committed a "cowardly and cruel" act.
"He destroyed the lives of his whole family. He did his best to spread hatred and division. Disgraceful. And we will not let that endure," said Ali, who was born in Pakistan.
Ali said immigrants such as himself owe a debt of gratitude to the U.S. and the armed forces protecting it because they often know firsthand what it means to live in countries without personal freedoms or the rule of law.
The end of Ramadan is usually a time for celebration, but events at the Islamic Center were canceled after the shootings. A sign on the door Friday encouraged visitors to go to the memorial service instead.
Information for this article was contributed by Timothy Williams, Kenneth Rosen, Manny Fernandez and Thom Shanker of The New York Times; by Craig Whitlock, Adam Goldman, Dan Lamothe, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Cari Gervin, William Branigin, Brian Murphy, Greg Miller, Missy Ryan, Mark Berman, Sari Horwitz, Carol D. Leonnig and Julie Tate of The Washington Post; and by Jay Reeves, Michael Biesecker, Kathleen Foody and staff members of The Associated Press.
A Section on 07/19/2015