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This April 2015 booking photo released by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office shows a man identified as Mohammad Youssduf Adbulazeer after being detained for a driving offense. A U.S. official identified the gunman as<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, who shares<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the same age and address as the man in the photo.(Photo: Hamilton County Sheriffs Office)
NASHVILLE —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The suspected shooter in the Chattanooga attacks that left four U.S. Marines dead on Thursday worked in Franklin at Superior Essex Inc., a source knowledgeable about the investigation told The Tennessean.
A company employee approached the Williamson County Sheriff's office and told authorities that the suspected shooter worked at the plant, the source said. Superior Essex is a technology manufacturing company that, according to its website, designs, produces and supplies wire and cable products.
Authorities identified the gunman as Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez of Hixson, Tenn., though the spelling of his first name was in dispute, with federal officials and records giving at least four variations. Another source told The Tennessean that Abdulazeez split his time between Chattanooga and the Nashville area.
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A Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesperson confirmed the agency made sweeps at the Superior Essex facility in Franklin, just south of Nashville in Williamson County, where it is reported Abdulazeez was employed.
Superior Essex, a Franklin Magnet Wire Operation, is located on 20 Southeast Pkwy in Franklin, Tenn<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Shelley Mays/The Tennessean)
"At the request of the company and in an overabundance of caution, agents conducted a safety check to make sure that nothing remained that would be of harm employees at that location," FBI spokesperson Joel Siskovic said Thursday night.
A longtime<span style="color: Red;">*</span>employee at Superior Essex spoke to The Tennessean on a condition of anonymity Thursday night, fearing for his job if he identified himself.
The employee said he worked with Abdulazeez and that Abdulazeez was a shift supervisor at the company.
"I know it is cliché to say this, but I would have never thought this of him," the employee said. "He was always nice, polite and well-spoken. I'm still shocked. I still think that can't be him."
The employee said he believed Abdulazeez has worked at the company for two to three months, and that he never said anything much about his personal life.
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"I guess we all knew he was Muslim," the employee said. "He did say that he was doing the fasting for Ramadan. Other than that, he was just like any other guy who worked there."
Federal authorities are investigating Thursday's shooting as a possible act of terrorism. Three others were wounded Thursday, officials said. The gunman was killed but authorities have not disclosed how he died. The attacks took place at a recruiting center and another U.S. military site in Chattanooga.
At an evening news conference in Chattanooga, the FBI's Ed Reinhold said investigators are pursuing all leads.
"We're checking every possible place that he resided or could have resided, visited, where he shopped, where he went to school, who his friends were, if he worked out at a gym — every possible lead."
Contributing:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Matt Slovin, Stacey Barchenger and Shelley Mays, The Tennessean.
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