CHATTANOOGA, TN — Tennessee organizers are planning a day of memorial events Saturday for the first anniversary of a shooting attack that claimed the lives of four Marines and a Navy sailor in Chattanooga.
Saturday's events will include an interfaith service, a concert, art exhibits and a quiet moment of reflection.
Authorities say 24-year-old Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez shot at a Chattanooga military recruiting office last July 16 before driving to a reserve center and opening fire, killing the Marines and fatally wounding the sailor. He was killed in a confrontation with police.
The U.S. Navy Secretary later said an investigation determined the attack was terrorist-inspired.
A Marine recruiter also was shot and wounded in the initial attack.
Cobb County native killed in attack
Cobb County native Skip Wells was killed in the attack. The 21-year-old was a graduate from Sprayberry High School. A family spokesperson said Wells went to college at Georgia Southern for a short time but "felt a calling to serve in the Marines."
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Wells was swapping text messages the day of the attack with his girlfriend of 2 ½ years. She was excited that she had booked a flight to visit him in Chattanooga after months apart.
"Can't wait anymore," Wells texted. "Yes you can honey," his girlfriend, Caroline Dove, replied.
His next two words would be the last she'd ever hear from him.
"ACTIVE SHOOTER," he wrote.
She thought he was kidding: "You are so weird," she replied.
Hours of silence. "I love you," she tried. Hours more passed, the news out of Chattanooga becoming clearer. "Hon, I need you to answer me please," she wrote.
It would not be until the next day that she learned his fate.
Cox Media Group
