'The Nice Boy from the Wrestling Team Is a Killer?': Neighbors Shocked by Chattanooga Gunman's Deadly Rampage

Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez died Thursday after allegedly killing four Marines in two separate attacks

Photo: Hamilton County Sheriffs Office/AP)

The brutal slayings of four Marines in two attacks at military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have left the community reeling – and those who knew the alleged gunman are “shocked.”

Little is known about 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez or what motivated his deadly shooting spree. Abdulazeez, who died Thursday, was born in Kuwait but was a naturalized U.S. citizen. He lived just outside Chattanooga with his parents and sister and, by all accounts, seemed like a “normal kid.”

“He was polite, he never acted up,” a neighbor, whose son wrestled against Abdulazeez in high school, tells PEOPLE. “He was just a normal high school kid.”

The neighbor adds: “He wasn’t part of some group that held themselves apart. He had friends. He got along with the others. Everyone is shocked that he did this.”

“The nice boy from the wrestling team is a killer?” the neighbor continues. “I am in shock. I keep hoping it isn’t true. It is, though.”

The motive for the attacks is not known, but thus far, Abdulazeez has not been connected to any terrorist organizations, though the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center did say that ISIS has been encouraging its followers to carry out attacks in the United States.

Charlie Kelly, whose daughter played soccer with the alleged shooter’s sister, tells PEOPLE the family was “nice.”

“We’re all in shock. We just can’t believe this happened in our hometown,” says Kelly, adding that he’s sad his town made “the international news for all the wrong reasons.”

“We’re a very proud town,” he says. “We’re doing a lot of good things here. I hate that we’re on the news for this.”

• Reporting by SUSAN KEATING

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