Navy Sailor, 26, Dies: 5th Chattanooga Victim

He's identified as petty officer Randall Smith
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 18, 2015 7:52 AM CDT
Navy Sailor, 26, Dies: 5th Chattanooga Victim
People bow their heads during an interfaith memorial service for the Tennessee shooting victims Friday in Chattanooga.   (Doug Strickland/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP)

A 26-year-old member of the Navy who was shot in this week's attack in Chattanooga has died of his injuries, making him the fifth fatality, reports AP. He has been identified as Petty Officer Randall Smith, a native of Ohio. The logistics specialist had been fighting for survival since getting shot multiple times in Thursday's assault. "He was shot once under the right arm, once in the stomach, and once in the back,” a cousin tells Tribune News Service. She adds that Smith and his wife have three daughters age 6 or younger.

His step-grandmother tells Indiana's WANE that Smith had been a promising baseball player who received a college scholarship but joined the Navy after hurting his shoulder. Darlene Proxmire adds that she never worried about Smith's safety even though he was in the military, "because he was never shipped over there where, you know, the fighting and all that was at." (Authorities are looking into a long overseas trip made last year by gunman Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez.)

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