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Biden told a
packed arena that the ideology that drove Mohammod Youssuf
Abdulazeez, a 24-year-old engineer, to go on a rampage at two
local military facilities was no match for national character.
"When this perverted jihadist struck, everyone responded," Biden
said. "We have a message for those perverted cowards around the
world. America never yields, never bends, never cowers and never
stands down."
Abdulazeez sprayed gunfire at a military recruiting center in a
strip mall in Chattanooga, then drove to a nearby Naval Reserve
Center, where he killed four Marines before he was shot to death
on July 16, according to authorities.
Investigators have been trying to establish whether Abdulazeez,
a Kuwaiti-born naturalized U.S. citizen, was part of an
organization or a "lone wolf" militant.
The Marine Corps identified the four slain Marines as Gunnery
Sergeant Thomas Sullivan of Hampden, Massachusetts, Staff
Sergeant David Wyatt of Burke, North Carolina, Sergeant Carson
Holmquist of Polk, Wisconsin, and reservist Lance Corporal
Squire Wells of Cobb, Georgia.
Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith of Paulding, Ohio,
also died in the shooting.
Biden described them as heroes and as "men of honor, men of
faith, men of determination" who "had a sense of duty ... a
sense of commitment."
He said the servicemen typified the 4.2 million young people who
joined the U.S. military forces after the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks on America.
"They were part of the remarkable 9/11 generation," he said.
"The finest generation of warriors the world has ever known."
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Peter
Cooney)
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