Chattanooga Shooter's Uncle Detained for Days

Source says shooter went to Jordan to get away from drugs
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 22, 2015 1:00 AM CDT
Chattanooga Shooter's Uncle Detained
Abed al-Kader Ahmad al-Khateeb, a lawyer of the uncle of the Chattanooga attacker, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, goes over a paper during an interview in Jordan yesterday.   (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

An uncle of the man who killed four Marines and a sailor in Chattanooga, Tenn., has been in custody in Jordan since a day after the attacks on two military sites, a lawyer says. Abed al-Kader Ahmad al-Khateeb tells the AP that he is barred from seeing his client, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez's maternal uncle, and that family members are also prevented from visiting the detainee. Computers and cellphones were taken from the man's home, but he has not been charged with anything, the attorney says. A Jordanian official says he's sure the uncle and "other relevant people" in Jordan are being questioned, but he would not elaborate.

Abdulazeez spent several months in Jordan last year under a mutual agreement with his parents to help him get away from drugs, alcohol, and a group of friends they considered to be a bad influence, according to a person close to his family. The lawyer says Abdulazeez stayed with the uncle in Jordan, but only to help him with his small cellphone business. Neither Abdulazeez nor his uncle was religious or belonged to any sort of political organization, he says. "The uncle is a regular person, he has a company, he is a businessman, he has no relation with any militant group or organization," he says. "He cares about his work and his family, and Muhammad is just his relative, the son of his sister. That's it." (Before the attack, Abdulazeez texted a verse from the Koran.)

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