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Chattanooga Shooting: Fifth victim dies in hospital after Tennessee naval base attack

Randall Smith, a 26-year-old logistics specialist in the US Navy, suffered three gunshot wounds to his right arm, stomach and back

Alice Harrold
Saturday 18 July 2015 22:59 BST
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Abdulazeez opened fire on a recruiting centre in Chattanooga
Abdulazeez opened fire on a recruiting centre in Chattanooga (EPA)

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A fifth victim has died since Thursday's shooting at a military centre in Tennessee.

Randall Smith, a 26-year-old logistics specialist in the US Navy, has become the fifth victim to die from a shooting at a naval recruitment centre in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

He suffered three gunshot wounds to his right arm, stomach and back in the attack on Thursday which killed four others.

Mr Smith underwent surgery on Thursday afternoon. His family reported that after the operation he was kept on a ventilator and had been given 150 units of blood.

The bullets had hit his colon and liver.

The navy officer and father-of-three is survived by his widow Angie Smith and his three daughters under the age of six.

Mr Smith had lived in Ohio before re-entering the service and moving to Chattanooga.

The four earlier victims were identified as David Wyatt, Carson Holmquist, Skip Wells and 40-year-old Thomas Sullivan, who had been awarded the Purple Heart during his service in Iraq.

The shooter was named as Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, a naturalised American who was born in Kuwait and 24-year-old engineering graduate.

Abdulazeez fired up to 30 shots before being killed by police officers in the incident that began at around 10.10am on Thursday morning.

Police said that the shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism, but the FBI said that the gunman had not been on their watch lists.

Authorities are continuing to search Abdulazeez's computer but have not yet found an extensive online presence.

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