US team in Jordan to interrogate uncle of Tennessee shooter — lawyer

AMMAN — US investigators are in Jordan to interrogate the Jordanian-American uncle of a suspect in the fatal shooting of five US servicemen in Tennessee last week, the uncle’s lawyer said on Wednesday.

The suspected gunman, 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, was killed in a gunfight with police on July 16 after he sprayed gunfire at a military recruitment centre in Chattanooga and then at a nearby Naval Reserve Centre.

The engineer’s family say he had long-standing psychological and substance abuse issues and was taken to stay with his uncle, Asaad Ibrahim Abdulazeez Haj Ali, in Amman for a short visit last year to help his recovery.

But investigators have evidence he had been searching for jihadist material that may have inspired the attack, a source close to the case told Reuters on Monday.

Jordanian authorities arrested Haj Ali on Friday and he was being interrogated by both Jordanian and US investigators, his lawyer Abdel Qader Al Khatib said by telephone.

A Jordanian security source confirmed US investigators had arrived in Jordan and said they were involved in questioning Haj Ali, who is being held at a high security facility.

“We are gathering clues and we need to establish whether this was a sole act or one that is linked to a wider terror network,” the source said.

“At this stage of the interrogation we cannot rule out anything.”

Khatib called on Jordanian authorities to allow him to attend their interrogations, saying he feared his client could be forced to testify under duress.

The lawyer had been told he could meet with his client next Sunday, but said this was not soon enough.

Khatib said there was nothing to indicate that the uncle or nephew were militant Islamists.

“They [the investigators] are focusing on whether my client had influenced [his nephew] and if he had motivated him,” he claimed. “There is no basis to this as both do not adhere to any religious ideology.”