Missing Tennessee native Justin Shults confirmed among dead in Brussels attacks

ByABC7.com staff KABC logo
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Belgian police patrols as people gathered to mourn for the victims of the bombings at the Place de la Bourse in the center of Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, March 24, 2016.
Belgian police patrols as people gathered to mourn for the victims of the bombings at the Place de la Bourse in the center of Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, March 24, 2016.
vod-AP Photo/Peter Dejong

LOS ANGELES -- A 30-year-old American man was identified Saturday among those who were killed in the Brussels terror attacks.

The brother of Justin Shults, a Tennessee native, confirmed the death via Twitter. The filter company he worked for, Clarcor, also issued a statement on his death. He and his wife Stephanie Shults had not been seen since the attacks happened. She remains missing.

"We grieve with his family and continue to offer our support as they mourn this unimaginable loss," the statement said. "Justin has been an integral member of our global finance team since May of 2012 and he has lived with his wife, Stephanie, in Brussels since 2014. He will be remembered by his CLARCOR community as an intelligent, kind and loyal friend and employee. Justin will be greatly missed by those who knew him.

We do not have news yet about Justin's wife, Stephanie, and ask that you keep her and her family in your prayers."

Shults' brother, Levi Sutton, said the last thing Shults told him was that he loved him.

Shults, originally from Gatlinburg, and his wife, a Lexington, Kentucky, native, graduated together from Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management. They were dropping Stephanie's mother off at the airport and were watching her walk through security when the bombs went off, a family member said.

Shults is among the 31 people killed in Tuesday's planned terror attacks, which also left 270 people wounded.

Of the 270 wounded, 93 are being treated at a Brussels military hospital. A doctor there said Saturday that 15 people are in a serious burns unit, five of them in intensive care.

Authorities believe both the Brussels attacks and the Nov. 13 bombings in Paris that killed 130 people were plotted from Belgium.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.