Feds: Shooting of Marines an ‘act of terrorism’
Chattanooga - Federal authorities on Friday disclosed they are treating their probe of the fatal shootings here as a terrorism investigation and that the gunman had two "long guns," a sidearm and a vest for carrying extra ammunition.
“The active shooter situation is being treated as a terrorism investigation,” Bill Killian, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, told reporters at an afternoon news conference here. “It is being led by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. And we will continue to investigate it as an act of terrorism until proof shows us otherwise. We will let the facts and the evidence lead us where it may.”
Edward Reinhold, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Knoxville office, declined to specify what weapons the gunman had.
“He did have at least two long guns, which would be considered rifles or shotguns,” he said. “And he did have one handgun that we are aware of.”
Reinhold also disclosed that some of the weapons were purchased legally and some of them “may not have been. We will examine that.”
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Jeremy Redmon is an award-winning journalist, essayist and educator with more than three decades of experience reporting for newspapers. He has written for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 2005.
