Here is a look at the Marines killed in the attack on two military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee: THOMAS SULLIVAN Ripples of grief were apparent as a stream of visitors brought flowers, food and gifts Friday to the Hampden, Massachusetts, home of Jerry and Betty Sullivan, the parents of Gunnery Sgt.
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The girlfriend of one of the four Marines slain in the attack on military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee, revealed the last heartbreaking text messages the two shared before his life was cut tragically short.
Allan Russell comforts his wife, Dee, after they visited a makeshift memorial outside the Armed Forces Career Center on Friday, July 17, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Caroline Dove, 21, had been texting Lance Corporal Squire “Skip” Wells in the hours before the deadly shooting.
His next two words would be the last she’d ever hear from him.
“Skip is the kind of kid you want on your team”. She said that Wyatt seemed like a nice man.
But by Friday morning, nearly 24 hours later, she discovered her worst fears on Facebook through a mutual friend.
After high school, Wells briefly attended Georgia Southern University, then joined the Marines, a family spokesman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
At the Sunday service at First Baptist Church of Woodstock, an American flag and clarinet were placed on his seat in the church orchestra, Pittman said.
“A lot of people know we live there and that we’re Muslims”, she said. Pittman was in the congregation Sunday and she prays it helps give Skip Wells’ mother the strength she needs.
Many who knew him and his mother posted tributes to him on social media, such as one man who said that his “heart is breaking”. Friend and family spokesman Andy Kingery says Wells was on the first day of a two-week assignment in Chattanooga when he was killed yesterday. He was our hero and he will never be forgotten. “He was a young man who served his country with honor and distinction and had his whole life ahead of him”, Neal wrote.
Mayor Dominic Sarno identified the Marine as Sgt.
Wells, a 21-year-old reservist who graduated from Sprayberry High School in Marietta in 2012, was recalled as a marching band nerd who had recently returned from a trip to Disney World in Florida with his mother, Cathy Wells.
“He figured if he was going to serve, he would go all the way and be one of the few and the proud”, Wonders said. The Pentagon said he enlisted in January 2009 and was serving as an automotive maintenance technician.
The reason for the attack is still being investigated, but Mewborn will focus on his fellow Marine.
“We just feel very lucky to be in a city like this”, he said. The suspect was also killed in a gun-fight with authorities.
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Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia.
