A year ago Saturday one angry young man killed five Chattanooga area service members, stunned a city and forced a state and nation to accept what surely was inevitable: the possibility that someone who wasn't in the military could attack our own forces on U.S. soil.
Chattanooga, the state of Tennessee and all of America remembers what Mohammad Abdulazeez, 24, did.
When he pulled up the morning of July 16, 2015, to a military recruiting center, fired a gun, and then sped down the road to attack a Navy Reserve center, shooting and killing four Marines and a sailor, he changed how we guard our military centers.
He also changed for many how they think about terrorism, its causes and sources.
"It’s no longer necessary for a foreign terrorist organization to try to smuggle individuals into this country to commit a terrorist act or find individuals to travel overseas to train," FBI Supervisory Special Agent Marshall Stone of the Knoxville area office told 10News.
"You can now, through propaganda, try to find someone who will take up your cause and act wherever they live in this country. And that’s becoming a huge problem in this country: homegrown violent extremists taking ahold of that propaganda and the social media that’s been very pervasive."
The U.S. Department of Defense also is in the process of raising security measures at military centers such as the one the gunman attacked in his second and final stop, U.S. Army Maj. Jamie Davis, DOD spokesman, said in a phone interview with 10News.
"DOD is absolutely committed to strengthening and defending our people and our facilities from potential threats of all kinds," Davis said. "We have these facilities. We have a mission. We have to make sure we accomplish that mission but also protect our airmen, our soldiers and Marines.
"We have to strike the right balance - accomplish their mission and be accessible to the public."
RADICALIZED
The gunman, a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, was born in Kuwait. His family moved here when he was an infant. He became a naturalized American citizen, and lived with his family in the Chattanooga suburb of Hixson, Tenn.
Driving a rented Mustang, he pulled up first on the morning of July 16, 2015, to the U.S. Naval Recruiting offices on Lee Highway. He fired shots into the storefront office and then continued on to the Navy Operations Support Center on Amnicola Highway, an investigation showed.
Before being shot and killed by Chattanooga police at the scene, he killed Marine Staff Sgt. David Allen Wyatt, Marine Gunnery Sgt. Thomas J. Sullivan, Marine Lance Corp. Squire K. Wells, Marine Sgt. Carson Holmquist and Navy Petty Officer Randall Smith.
Also wounded in the attack were USMC Sgt. DeMonte Cheeley and Chattanooga police officer Dennis Pedigo Jr.
Ed Reinhold, special agent in charge of the FBI's Knoxville office, oversaw the ensuing investigation.
Reinhold last month confirmed that Abdulazeez had become radicalized by watching videos.
"Based on his desire to commit jihad - that he wanted to hit the U.S. military and he did not want to go overseas to do it - he wanted to make a bigger impact," Reinhold said. "He felt it would make a bigger impact if he did it here."
Reinhold also said investigators think there were people - unnamed - who knew about his beliefs and failed to report him to authorities.
It was the first time someone not in the U.S. military committed an attack against U.S. military personnel on American soil, Reinhold said.
The FBI's investigation continues.
CHANGES
As a result of the attack, Tennessee lawmakers passed a bill to protect armories and recruitment centers in the state. The changes include installation of mobile ballistic shields, shatter-resistant film for windows and doors, barriers in front of the buildings and cameras.
Another change: Certain Guard members are now allowed to carry weapons on military property.
The Department of Defense "is in the final stages" of reviewing and addressing its approach to having military personnel carry weapons at facilities such as the Naval Reserve Center, according to the DOD's Davis.
Davis said past policies have been "ambiguous." Currently, qualified personnel shall be armed if a commander tells them to be. Otherwise, security and law enforcement are the only other people allowed to carry a weapon.
The review is aimed at giving commanders greater discretion to ensure service members at such reserve centers can protect themselves.
Since the Chattanooga attack, Davis said, the department has installed ballistic glass at the center, among other changes.
It also recognized the need to better protect centers that are not on military bases across the country, such as recruiting stations, he said. Enhanced alarm systems are one way to improve security, he said.
Some of the most vulnerable centers have already been identified, Davis said.
Nationwide, the Defense Department this fiscal year is looking at making $80 million in improvements to "off DOD" military centers. Next year, it plans to spend some $100 million for continued improvements.
The U.S. has some 6,000 facilities, so it's going to take some time to get all the work done, Davis said.
For security reasons, he declined to address specifics.
CHATTANOOGA STRONG
Chattanooga will grieve Saturday for the five men it lost last July. It will also pay its respects, and it will celebrate their lives.
Many events are planned including a morning "NoogaStrong" memorial ride and a "Chattanooga Heroes" walk/run.
Mayor Andy Berke and the city also will present a memorial ceremony that will include a presentation of the colors and the "Star Spangled Banner." At 11 a.m., just about the time the gunman began firing at the naval center, the USS Chattanooga bell will ring five times. Participants also will be invited to drop flower petals in the Tennessee River.
At 9 p.m., a mural that artist Kevin Bate has been working on for weeks on busy McCallie Avenue will be formally recognized and illuminated. Bate told WRCB-TV he was inspired to create the mural after seeing a picture of the young son of one of the victims.
It's 22 feet tall and more than 100 feet in length.
Gov. Bill Haslam release a statement Friday.
"As we remember the tragic one year anniversary of this event, I want to say to the people of Chattanooga my heartfelt thanks for the warmth with which you responded to such a horrible event," said Haslam, the former mayor of Knoxville. "I think people the world over saw what it means to be ‘Chattanooga Strong’ by the heart that you showed – the bleeding, hurting heart but also the reaching out heart. As governor, I couldn’t be more grateful for the way you responded.”
'FREEDOM ISN'T FREE'
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, in comments released Friday, marveled at how his hometown responded after the July 16 shootings.
"I don't think I've ever experienced anything like leaving the funeral and driving to the burial place and seeing so many Chattanoogans, of all walks of life, standing out there," the former Chattanooga mayor said. "Kids left baseball fields to be out there standing with their hat over their heart. Women who had been out just exercising and on a walk. Companies had come out of their places of business. It was just an amazing thing."
Retired Navy Capt. Mickey McCamish of the Southeast Tennessee Veterans Coalition has taken part in several events meant to honor the "Fallen Five" while also helping their families.
"We realized on July 16th that freedom isn't free," McCamish said.
The FBI's Stone said terrorism today is "our No. 1 priority" because it's the "No. 1 threat that we face."
The July 16 attack served as a reminder that terrorism can happen anywhere, including Chattanooga, he said.
"It's been proven," Stone said. "And people have to be willing to take a stand and do what's right. And not take the stance that it's not my business. ... It's all of our responsibility to maintain the freedoms that we have in this country - the safety we have in this country."
Corker evoked Genesis 12, the biblical section known as the "Call to Abram."
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Said the senator: "We are blessed to be a blessing, and Genesis 12 lays that out. I think that it's just something, especially in our great nation, for our citizenry to take to heart, and I think many do. I do think that the response in Chattanooga to what happened - so many people demonstrated that very verse, Genesis 12."
WRCB-TV and USA Today contributed to this report.