If it could happen in Chattanooga, domestic terrorism could strike anywhere, including places like McMinnville.That warning was offered Thursday by William C (Bill) Killian, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. As the federal government’s top prosecutor for 41 counties, including Warren, he urged his audience at The Rotary Club of McMinnville not to hesitate to notify authorities “if anything doesn’t look right.”The picturesque and hospitable Chattanooga, a little more than an hour’s drive from McMinnville, was stunned last July 16 when a lone gunman opened fire on unarmed Marine recruiters and a Navy petty officer, leaving five dead in a shooting rampage that ended when city police officers trained their gunfire on the assailant. Preventing and prosecuting domestic terrorism is the “number 1 priority” for the US Department of Justice, including its investigative arm, the FBI, Killian said in opening remarks at the civic club’s weekly luncheon program in the fellowship hall of First Presbyterian Church.“If you see something, say something,” the visiting speaker stressed, quoting a public-service message pushed by the Transportation Safety Administration and repeated throughout the nation’s airports.
Domestic terrorism a threat everywhere