Employees, community shocked by shooter's Franklin ties
When the face of Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez flashed across the television screens of workers at Superior Essex Inc. in Franklin Thursday, it was as if he were a stranger. Then, after a long double take, the shooter on network news was someone they recognized.
He was one of their supervisors.
After taking two sick days off, Abdulazeez was supposed to return to work Thursday, employees said.
But he never arrived.
Instead, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Abdulazeez drove a silver Ford Mustang up to a Navy Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center in Chattanooga at about 10:45 a.m. Thursday and opened fire, killing four marines and injuring others.
Initial news of the shooting seemed like a distant tragedy for employees at Superior Essex, similar to other mass shootings.
But when employees realized the “polite, quiet supervisor,” who had been at the plant just three months, was responsible for such an atrocity, it gave them a disquieting feeling of proximity to the tragedy.
"I know it is cliché to say this, but I would have never thought this of him," said an employee who didn't want his name used for fear of retribution. "He was always nice, polite and well-spoken. I'm still shocked. I still think that can't be him."
In a letter to employees of Atlanta-based Superior Essex Inc., CEO Brian Kim confirmed Friday that Abdulazeez worked at the company's Franklin facility for a relatively short time.
"We were shocked and deeply saddened that a three-month employee of our company was the gunman of the tragic incident in Chattanooga," Kim wrote to employees. "Our thoughts are with the families of the victims as well as those injured."
He emphasized that although proper “employment processes” didn’t raise any red flags before the company hired Abdulazeez, the company would continue to fully cooperate with authorities.
He added that services were available to employees who would like “help in dealing with this tragic event.”
The day of the shooting, workers at the plant were sent home, and afternoon shift workers were told not to come to work, employees told The Tennessean.
An FBI spokesperson later confirmed that officials made a sweep of the area where Abdulazeez worked to make sure it was secure.
"At the request of the company and in an overabundance of caution, agents conducted a safety check to make sure that nothing remained that would be of harm to employees at that location," said FBI spokesperson Joel Siskovic Thursday night.
The plant
Superior Essex is a technology manufacturing company that, according to its website, designs, produces and supplies wire and cable products.
Early Friday morning at Superior Essex, an unremarkable gray industrial campus south of town, the atmosphere was quiet.
A few members of the media stood by, and periodically a car or truck would enter or leave the campus, which was fenced off with chain link topped by barbed wire.
A few dozen cars — mostly pick-up trucks — were in a large parking lot.
At a Chick-fil-A just across Columbia Avenue from the stretch of gray and brown low-slung business parks and manufacturing facilities where the Superior Essex plant has operated for about three decades, local residents said they were stunned and puzzled by the news that the suspected shooter worked nearby.
As the breakfast crowd from nearby businesses ordered chicken biscuits and a long line of cars snaked from the drive-thru window, a group of TVA retirees who meet about once a month sat chatting in the restaurant.
Jimmy Weatherington said that most members of the group worked in Chattanooga before being transferred to Nashville. He said he's lived in Franklin since 1998.
"I'm in shock," he said. "I feel like two connections."
He said many in the group of about six know the Chattanooga area well where the shooting occurred and still have friends there. He said he's praying for them.
Jerry Barnette, who sat next to Weatherington, said he's lived in Franklin for about 18 years.
"That's something. I would have had no idea," he said of Abdulazeez's Franklin tie. "It seemed odd he worked two to two-and-a-half hours away. But maybe that's the job he could get."
At a Thursday evening news conference in Chattanooga, FBI's Ed Reinhold said investigators are pursuing all leads.
"We're checking every possible place that he resided or could have resided, visited, where he shopped, where he went to school, who his friends were, if he worked out at a gym — every possible lead."
As for those who worked with Abdulazeez, they knew very little.
"I guess we all knew he was Muslim," the employee who talked to The Tennessean said. "He did say that he was doing the fasting for Ramadan. Other than that, he was just like any other guy who worked there."
Another employee, who also didn't want to be named, said Abdulazeez was a shift supervisor with a background in engineering.
"He was quiet and nice," the second employee said. "He would sometimes go to pray during work. He called in sick for the past two days. He was supposed to come back in tonight. He was supposed to work Sunday night and Monday night, but he did not come in."
Calls to the company's vice president of human resources, Anna Basista, seeking more details about Abdulazeez's work for the company were not immediately returned.
Franklin Police said that they hadn't had any prior interactions with Abdulazeez.
“Outside of his employment, as of now, there does not appear to be anything connecting Abdulazeez to Franklin, Tenn.," Franklin police said in news release.
Authorities have identified Abdulazeez as being of Hixson, Tenn., but another source told The Tennessean that he split his time between Chattanooga and the Nashville area.
Reporters Natalie Alund, Matt Slovin, Stacey Barchenger and photographer Shelley Mays contributed to this report.