Marine in Chattanooga shooting may have been armed, officials say - Washington Post
— The FBI has recovered a pistol that may have been privately owned and used by one of the Marines killed here Thursday during the shooting at the Navy Operational Support Center, according to law enforcement officials. Investigators are trying to determine, based on forensics, whether the pistol, a 9mm Glock, was used in an exchange with the shooter, Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, and possibly wounded him, officials said. The standard-issue pistol for military personnel authorized to carry a sidearm is a variant of the 9mm Beretta 92. According to the Marine unit’s commanding officer, Maj. Mike Abrams, Marines are not authorized to carry personally owned firearms while at the support center. The shooting has prompted calls to arm military personnel at bases and other facilities, including recruiting centers, in the United States. In the 1990s, the Pentagon restricted who can carry weapons at domestic military facilities, ostensibly to make them safer by allowing only military police to carry weapons in most situations. “Long before the Chattanooga attack, we had been working to clarify a post commander’s authority to allow carrying of personal firearms,” McCain and Thornberry said in a joint statement. Law enforcement officials said they were still sifting through details of Abdulazeez’s life and trying to figure out what specifically led to shootings. Source: www.washingtonpost.com
