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Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani
Florida news outlets, citing sources, on Friday afternoon identified the suspected gunman as Saudi second lieutenant Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani and released this photo that purports to show the alleged shooter.
Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani

Six Saudis are arrested over Pensacola naval base shooting


Daily Mail
Fri December 6, 2019


The Saudi Air Force trainee who killed three and injured eight when he opened fire at a naval base in Florida assailed the United States as 'a nation of evil' before he went on his shooting rampage, AFP reports.

The man, identified as Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, opened fire inside a classroom at Naval Air Station in Pensacola early Friday morning. Police quickly responded to the scene and he was shot dead.

US officials say Alshamrani was a second lieutenant attending the aviation school at the base. The Pentagon say his training with the US military began in August 2016, and was due to finish in August 2020.

The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist media, said late Friday that they had tracked a Twitter account purportedly belonging to Alshamrani which featured a disturbing manifesto written prior to the shooting.

"I'm against evil, and America as a whole has turned into a nation of evil,' the tweet read.

"I'm not against you for just being American, I don't hate you because your freedoms, I hate you because every day you supporting, funding and committing crimes not only against Muslims but also humanity," he wrote.

ABC News reported that investigators were working to determine if it was in fact written by the shooter.

The Twitter account that posted the manifesto - which also condemned US support for Israel and included a quote from Al-Qaeda's deceased leader, the Saudi Osama bin Laden - has been suspended.

Meanwhile six other Saudi nationals were arrested near the base shortly after the attack, as investigators began to probe a terror link.

Three of the six were seen filming the entire incident as it unfolded, a source told The New York Times on Friday evening.

No officials have yet stated whether any of them were students inside the classroom where the shooting occurred.

Military from around the globe attend the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, which is the home of the Navy's revered Blue Angels aerial demonstration team.

President Donald Trump this afternoon tweeted that he spoke on the phone with Saudi Arabia's King Salman, who he said expressed 'sincere condolences' to those impacted by the shooting.

Trump added that King Salman informed him the Saudi people love Americans and 'are greatly angered by the barbaric actions of the shooter...'

Shortly before 8pm Eastern Time, Saudi officials condemned the shooting and claimed they are willing to cooperate with the investigation.

The shooter opened fire in a classroom building shortly before 7am Friday. The attack left four people dead, including the assailant, and eight others wounded.

During an afternoon press briefing, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis confirmed the shooter was from Saudi Arabia, which has long relied on the US to train it military officers.

'There's obviously going to be a lot of questions about this individual being a foreign national, being a part of the Saudi air force and then to be here training on our soil,' DeSantis told reporters.

'Obviously the government of Saudi Arabia needs to make things better for these victims. And I think they are going to owe a debt here given that this is one of their individuals.'

Of the 19 men involved in the September 11 attacks, 15 were Saudi and some of them attended flight school in Florida.

In recent weeks, 18 naval aviators and two aircrew members from the Royal Saudi Naval Forces were training with the US Navy, including at Pensacola, according to a November 15 press release from the Navy. It was not clear if the suspected shooter was part of that delegation.

The delegation came under a Navy program that offers training to US allies, known as the Naval Education and Training Security Assistance Field Activity.

A person familiar with the program said that Saudi Air Force officers selected for military training in the United States are intensely vetted by both countries.

The Saudi personnel are 'hand-picked' by their military and often come from elite families, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they did not have permission to speak to a reporter. Trainees must speak excellent English, the person said.

Officials announced Friday morning that the shooter was killed by two Escambia County Sheriff's deputies, who were injured during the exchange.

Three of the fatally injured people were pronounced dead at the scene and the fourth passed away at the hospital.

'This was an act of terrorism,' Rep Matt Gaetz, a Republican representing Pensacola, told the station WEAR.

The congressman said the investigation into the shooting has been handed over from NCIS to the FBI, signaling that it was 'not an act of workplace violence,' but rather an act of terror.

After news broke that the suspect was a Saudi national, Donald Trump tweeted that 'King Salman of Saudi Arabia just called to express his sincere condolences and give his sympathies to the families and friends of the warriors who were killed and wounded in the attack that took place in Pensacola, Florida.'

The President continued: 'The King said that the Saudi people are greatly angered by the barbaric actions of the shooter, and that this person in no way shape or form represents the feelings of the Saudi people who love the American people.'

Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said a 911 call was received at 6.51am central time reporting an active shooter on base.

Two deputies confronted the gunman inside a classroom building and exchanged gunfire, killing the perpetrator.

It has since been revealed that the gunman was armed with a handgun.

One of the officers suffered a gunshot wound to the arm, while the other was shot in the knee and underwent surgery.

Morgan said both deputies are expected to recover.

In total, eight people were taken to Baptist Health Care in Pensacola, one of whom later died.

Law enforcement and US Navy officials declined to release any information concerning the identities of the shooter and the victims pending the notification of next of kin.

Commanding officer Timothy Kinsella said the base's security forces first responded to the shooting before outside police agencies arrived.

The facility, which is used for training and made up mostly of classrooms, 'is shut down until further notice,' he said.

Sheriff Morgan said the crime scene was spread over two floors, which were left littered with spent shell casings.

'Walking through the crime scene was like being on the set of a movie,' he revealed.

Federal agencies are investigating, authorities said, including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

St. John's Catholic School, located directly outside the air station, was placed on lockdown as a precaution.

NAS Pensacola employs more than 16,000 military and 7,400 civilian personnel, according to its website.

One of the Navy's most historic and storied bases, it sprawls along the waterfront southwest of downtown Pensacola and dominates the economy of the surrounding area.

It's home to the Blue Angels flight demonstration team, and includes the National Naval Aviation Museum, a popular regional tourist attraction.

The shooting in Pensacola comes less than 48 hours after an active duty US sailor opened fire at Pearl Harbor's naval shipyard in Hawaii, killing two civilian workers and injuring a third, before taking his own life.

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