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Chattanooga Gunman Was a Drug Addict

INNER DEMONS

Suffered depression, family spokesman says.

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© Tami Chappell / Reuters

The 24-year-old gunman who killed five service members in Chattanooga, Tennessee, before being killed by police reportedly suffered from depression and battled drug and alcohol addiction, a family spokesman told the AP on Sunday. The spokesman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Muhammad Abdulazeez spent time in Jordan last year in an effort to rehabilitate himself under an apparent agreement with his parents. The spokesman added that family members believe those struggles contributed to his attack on two military sites last week. Abdulazeez was first treated by a child psychiatrist for depression at 12 or 13 years old, the spokesman said. More recently, he was arrested for a DUI and was fired from a nuclear plant after he failed a background check.

Read it at AP