Five months after the shooting rampage last summer at two Navy facilities in Tennessee, five service members who were killed and one survivor will be awarded Purple Heart medals, the military said Wednesday.
Four Marines and one sailor were gunned down by Muhammad Abdulazeez on July 16 in attacks at an armed services recruiting center and a naval reserve facility in Chattanooga. Another Marine was shot in the leg and survived, and a police officer and one other person were wounded. The attack ended when the gunman was shot and killed.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service had concluded after an extensive investigation that the attack was inspired by a foreign terrorist group, the final criteria required for the awarding of the Purple Heart to the service members and their families.
"Although the Purple Heart can never possibly replace this brave sailor and these brave Marines, it is my hope that as their families and the entire Department of the Navy team continue to mourn their loss, these awards provide some small measure of solace," Mabus said. "Their heroism and service to our nation will be remembered always."
The announcement came after FBI Director James Comey said at a news conference in New York that the gunman had been inspired by foreign "terrorist organization propaganda." Officials did not say what evidence led them to that conclusion. The attack had been investigated as an act of domestic terrorism from the outset, but until now, officials had not said there was any evidence directly linking Abdulazeez with terrorist organizations.
The five victims receiving the award posthumously are Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, Sgt. Carson Holmquist, Lance Cpl. Squire "Skip" Wells and Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith. The surviving Marine, Sgt. DeMonte Cheeley, will also receive the award.
Officials did not say whether the police officer and civilian wounded in the attacks would receive the civilian equivalent of the Purple Heart, the Defense of Freedom Medal.
The Purple Heart is a combat decoration given to members of the armed services who are wounded in combat or posthumously to their next of kin. Recipients qualify for combat-related compensation upon retirement and are eligible for burial in Arlington National Cemetery.
Congress expanded the award's eligibility criteria in the wake of the 2009 attacks on the Army base in Fort Hood, Texas. Forty-seven people were awarded a Purple Heart or a Defense of Freedom Medal at a ceremony in April.