Chattanooga shooting suspect came from abusive home: report

Updated
Details Released On The Chattanooga Shooter
Details Released On The Chattanooga Shooter


As they try to determine a possible motive, U.S. officials revealed Friday that the 24-year-old man suspected of killing four Marines in Chattanooga gunman Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez traveled to Jordan last year, according to multiple reports.

The news comes as newly-uncovered court documents allege that the suspected shooter came from an abusive home, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Abdulazeez's mother alleged in divorce papers she filed and then retracted in 2009 that that her husband beat and sexually assaulted her regularly, including when their children were home. She also claims in the complaint that Youssef Abdulazeez hit his children, and at one point threatened to take a second wife "as permitted under certain circumstances under Islamic law."

The new information comes after a pair of chilling blog posts surfaced in which the suspected shooter writes about jihad and his interpretation of Islam.

According to the Daily Beast, Abdulazeez wrote the posts three days before he allegedly fired a barrage of bullets in the twin attacks, killing four Marines and wounding two other military personnel and one police officer.

One post includes his apparent take on "The Story of the Three Blind Men" and understanding of Islam.

"Every one of them fought Jihad for the sake of Allah," the post reads, later adding, "We ask Allah to make us follow their path."

See images of Abdulazeez and the crime scene:

Federal officials have yet to announce a suspected motive in the attacks, and have told NBC News Abdulazeez was not on any terrorism radar or any watch lists.

Officials have confirmed that he was a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Kuwait who lived in the Chattanooga area. He graduated from local Red Bank High School and received a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga in 2012.

His high school yearbook quote went viral Thursday afternoon.

"My name causes national security alerts. What does yours do?"

His former high school wrestling coach told CNN, "Mohammad was a great student. He was a good wrestler, he was a smart individual."

His neighbors told local station WRCB-TV they were surprised to hear of the allegations against the unassuming kid in their community .

"It's extremely scary that he could just fly under the radar like that and then go out to target our military," one said.

"Seemed like a good kid, quiet kid. Not any problems in the neighborhood or anything like that," neighbor Dean McDaniel told the station.

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