Court papers say the father of Marine shooter Muhammad Youssef Abdullazeez beat his wife in front of their five children.
Rasmia Irbrhim Abdulazeez sued Youssuf Saed Abdulazeez for divorce in Chancery Court in February 2009, but the divorce was later withdrawn after the couple said they would seek to reconcile.
Muhammad Abdulazeez, 24, was killed Thursday morning after going on a rampage that resulted in four deaths and three others being wounded, including one critically.
The complaint says Youssuf Abdulazeez, who is a city of Chattanooga public works employee, said the father had repeatedly beaten her. She said once it was so severe that she went to a Crisis Center.
It was claimed that he had "sexually assaulted the plaintiff in the marital home when the children have also been in the home."
The complaint said Youssuf Abdulazeez had announced that he planned to take a second wife, "as permitted under certain circumstances under Islamic law, in the parties' native state of Palestine."
It said he "has frequently been verbally abusive to the plaintiff in the presence of the children" and that "on occasion, he has also been physically and verbally abusive towards the children, striking and beating them without provocation or justification."
The complaint said, in an attempt to work out the couple's problems, that the mother's brothers had flown into Chattanooga from Kuwait and Washington, D.C. It was claimed that later he became "more abusive toward the plaintiff by refusing to talk with her" and that he had "sexually abuse" her a second time after the brother from Washington's visit.
The complaint said the father had control over all the money and property in the family, and she had only been able to save a few dollars each week from the limited amount he gave her to spend.
The wife asked for primary care of the minor children, but said she "acknowledges that they have a fairly good relationship" with him and should be allowed to have continued regular contact with him.