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‘Run!’ Quick response key to survival in first attack at recruitment office

Sgt. DeMonte Cheeley is escorted to an unmarked patrol car by police officers from Erlanger Hospital's emergency room after a shooting at both the Amnicola Highway Armed Forces Career Center and the Naval Operational Support Center on Amnicola Highway on Thursday, July 16, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The shooting left five dead, including the shooter, and a Chattanooga police officer wounded.
Sgt. DeMonte Cheeley is escorted to an unmarked patrol car by police officers from Erlanger Hospital's emergency room after a shooting at both the Amnicola Highway Armed Forces Career Center and the Naval Operational Support Center on Amnicola Highway on Thursday, July 16, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The shooting left five dead, including the shooter, and a Chattanooga police officer wounded. Sgt. DeMonte Cheeley is escorted to an unmarked patrol car by police officers from Erlanger Hospital's emergency room after a shooting at both the Amnicola Highway Armed Forces Career Center and the Naval Operational Support Center on Amnicola Highway on Thursday, July 16, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The shooting left five dead, including the shooter, and a Chattanooga police officer wounded.

By Tyler Jett 1 min read

photo These five Marines worked at the recruitment center last Thursday.

Lance Cpl. Christopher Gilliam was shuffling standard paperwork on what seemed like a standard day last week when he saw a silver Mustang, then a gun.

On the morning of July 16, sitting at a cubicle in the U.S. Marine Corps recruitment center on Lee Highway, Gilliam looked out the tinted front window and saw Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez.

Gilliam, who grew up in Benton County, Tenn., didn’t know what was going to happen. But he felt a threat. His response was simple and efficient.

“Run!” he yelled to the other four Marines working in the recruitment center.