One of Four Marines Killed in Chattanooga Gun Attack Was From Springfield

By Lorraine Swanson (Patch Staff)

One of the four Marines shot to death in Thursday’s attack on two military centers in Tennessee was a man from Springfield, MA.

USMC Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan was working at the Marine Reservist Center in Chattanooga, about seven miles away from the military recruiting centers where authorities said Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez first opened fire.

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The military has notified all families but the Defense Department, according to policy, will not release the names to the public for 24 hours. A friend who served with him in Japan spoke to Patch about Sgt. Sullivan. His Facebook wall activity changed from fellow Marines trying to find out if he was OK to memorial postings by Thursday evening.

All of the dead, including the alleged gunmen, were at the Naval and Marine Reservist Centers.

“There’s no Marine you would want that was better in combat than him,” said friend Josh Parnell, of Chicago.

Parnell said Sullivan had just turned 40 and had been in the Marine Corps since 1997. Parnell said he and other friends were trying to reach Sullivan all day Thursday to see if he was OK. They finally reached his family Thursday evening and learned of his death.

“He’d been shot at so many times over the years and then for this to happen at home in the United States,” Parnell said.

Sullivan survived the largest attack on U.S. forces since Vietnam during the Battle of Abu Ghraib in 2005. He also was awarded a Combat Action medal and Purple Heart, Parnell said.

The slain Marine was just a few years away from retirement when he was gunned down Thursday morning.

Caption: USMC Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, 40, of Springfield, MA, was one of four Marines gunned down in Chattanooga, TN, on Thursday in what authorities are terming a domestic terrorist attack.