The US navy said on Saturday that a sailor who was shot earlier on Thursday at a military support center in Chattanooga has died. The sailor’s death brought the toll from the shooting to five – the suspected gunman was also shot dead.

The navy did not name the sailor but he was identified by family members as Randall Smith, who was 26.

Darlene Proxmire, Smith’s step-grandmother, confirmed his death to NewsChannel 15 in Ohio. Smith died two days after four marines were killed and he and two others were injured.

“He was at the recruiting center and he was shot three times,” said Proxmire, who said she learned of the shooting from a voicemail from a friend. “I immediately turned it on CNN and, wow, it was awful.”

Prior to her son’s death, Paula Proxmire, Smith’s mother, told the news channel: “It’s hard to understand how somebody can hurt somebody that’s serving for you. For your freedom, for your safety.”

She and Smith’s wife, Angie, were in Chattanooga with him. Smith was a father of three daughters aged six and younger.

“I found out he was shot once under the right arm, once in the stomach and once in the back,” Tania Daugherty, Paula Proxmire’s cousin, told the Salina Journal in Kansas. According to the Journal, Daugherty was told about the shooting by her aunt, Linda Wallace, who lives in Texas.

“When my aunt called me, she said: ‘Pray,’ because they called Randall’s wife and said: ‘Bring your pastor.’”

Authorities have said Kuwait-born Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, 24, of Hixson, Tennessee, unleashed a barrage of fire at a recruiting center in Chattanooga, then drove several miles away to a navy and marine reserve centre, where he shot and killed the marines and wounded Smith. Abdulazeez was shot dead by police.

“It is a heartbreaking circumstance for these individuals who have served our country with great valor to be killed in this fashion,” President Obama said on Thursday.

The incident is being investigated a potential act of domestic terrorism.

On Saturday, Reuters reported that hours before the attack, Abdulazeez sent a text message to the friend which linked to a Koranic verse that included the text: “Whosoever shows enmity to a friend of Mine, then I have declared war against him.”

Smith grew up in the northwest Ohio city of Paulding and joined the military after attending college in Ohio, his grandmother Linda Wallace said before his death.

Wallace, of Midlothian, Texas, said she was upset to learn that there was little security outside the marine-navy centre.

“I cannot believe our soldiers do not have guns there,” she said. “A lot of people are learning our bases aren’t guarded.”

According to his family, Smith had extensive damage to his liver and colon. Despite his injuries, Darlene Proxmire said Smith was able to communicate with his wife and give her a thumbs up after one of his surgeries.

“He loved the navy. He loved it in there,” she said.



Smith’s family had set up a GoFundMe page to help support the family and possibly cover any transportation and medical financial needs. On Saturday morning, the page, which originally said Smith was “fighting for his life” and asked for prayers, was disabled.