Uncle of Chattanooga shooter released in Jordan — lawyer

AMMAN — The uncle of a man who reportedly killed five US servicemen in Tennessee was released from detention in Jordan Thursday after almost a week of interrogation by the FBI and local intelligence services, his lawyer said.

Asaad Ibrahim Abdulazeez Haj Ali is the uncle of Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, 24, who reportedly killed four US marines and a sailor at two military centres in Chattanooga on July 16, before dying himself in a shoot-out with police.

Intelligence services “released my client ... who has been held since last Friday”, Abdel Qader Al Khatib told AFP.

He is in “good health, but tired” after being interrogated by the FBI and Jordanian intelligence, and is now back with his family, the lawyer added.

Abdulazeez stayed with his uncle and worked in his mobile telephone shop during a visit to Jordan lasting several months last year.

Khatib said US authorities were interested in knowing more about that visit to better understand the gunman’s state of mind before he went on the deadly rampage.

Abdulazeez was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents, according to Jordanian authorities. He does not have Jordanian nationality despite being given a Jordanian travel document in 2014 — a common practice with Palestinians — they added.

The uncle is of Palestinian origin and has joint Jordanian-US citizenship.