Lieutenant Commander Tim White confirms he opened fire on Mohammad Abdulazeez with personal weapon during Chattanooga attack
On July 30 the Times Free Press reported that Tim White the commanding officer at the Navy Operational Support Center returned fire with his personal weapon when his facility was attacked by the terrorist know as Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez.
Abdulazeez attacked the U.S. Naval and Marine Reserve Center on July 16 with a handgun and an assault rifle. Abdulazeez killed four Marines and a Navy specialist in the bold daytime attack.
Commander White’s wife, Franicia White told Stripes she was proud of her husband for fighting back. Franicia said, “He values human life enough to protect his sailors and others. I am honored to be his wife and stand by him 100 percent.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge Ed Reinhold held a press conference in which he did not identify White by name, but said, “A service member inside the building saw Abdulazeez approaching and fired at him.” An unnamed Marine allegedly opened fire on Abdulazeez with a “sidearm” as well, but there is no confirmation on whether he found his target either.
Many politicians after the terrorist attack immediately called for a change in policy to allow more service members to be armed. Within two days, six states either ordered their National Guard recruiting personnel to be armed or ordered those in recruitment relocated to armories or similar facilities.
The Associated Press reported, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter directed the military branches to review security policies, including adding armed personnel in the wake of the Chattanooga attacks, “The tragic shooting on July 16 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, illustrates the continuing threat to DOD personnel in the U.S. homeland posed by homegrown violent extremists,” Carter wrote in a memo released by the Pentagon.