Pensacola Shooting Suspect Identified As Aviation Student

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The suspect in a shooting that left four people, including the shooter, dead at Florida’s Naval Air Station Pensacola on Friday morning has been identified as an aviation student and member of the Saudi air force. According to reports, the suspect was in the U.S. for training. In addition to the victims killed in the attack, eight others were wounded. The names of those killed and injured have not yet been released. This is the second shooting at a U.S. Naval facility this week.

“Our entire Navy and Marine Corps team is struck and deeply saddened by the attacks within our own naval family over the past several days, at Little Creek, Virginia, last week, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Wednesday, and today in Pensacola, Florida,” said Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly. “These acts are crimes against all of us. … It is our solemn duty to find the causes of such tragic loss and ceaselessly work together to prevent them.”

More than 16,000 military personnel and 7,400 civilians are employed at Naval Air Station Pensacola. The FBI is investigating the attack.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

Kate O'Connor
Kate O’Connor works as AVweb's Editor-in-Chief. She is a private pilot, certificated aircraft dispatcher, and graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

9 COMMENTS

  1. Why do we have Muslim foreigners on the inside of our NAVY training facility?
    Why do we have Muslim foreigners buying guns in our homeland?
    Can I assume that whatever this”program” is that it will END NOW for the good of the country and it’s citizens?

    • Let’s not make such general statements that discredit the programs we have with our allies. Believe me, this is a serious embarrassment for the Saudi Air Force. It would also be a serious embarrassment if it was a USN active duty serviceman.

      • An “embarrassment”, Is that the word?
        I used to get embarrassed when my shirt became untucked, when I got food on my tie, when I mispronounced words. I used to get “embarrassed ” when my mom told stories about be at thanksgiving.

        So if that’s what “embarrassment” means, you explain that to the families of the dead American citizens.

  2. “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,” Trump tweeted.

  3. Today’s news includes reports that the shooter published an online manifesto that condemned America and Americans.
    Six other Saudi nationals (also students at the base) are in federal custody, being questioned to learn whether the shooter acted alone, or was the point man in a larger conspiracy.

    Prediction: copious hand-wringing; minimalist wrist-slapping.

  4. Not only did the guy post on line, he also hosted a dinner party a couple days before the attack where he showed anti-American videos with scenes depicting shooting people. This was no recent covert and this was no spur of the moment act. He was a plant in the Saudi military aimed at attacking Americans. He was carrying an illegal firearm on a military base where no one but security forces are allowed to carry guns. This was an embarrassing security failure on the part of the U.S. Military – one that has been repeated several times in the last few years.

    I am neither anti-Muslim nor islamophobic, but we need to take a serious look at how these training programs should be conducted. After all, most of the 911 terrorists were Saudi citizens. There is a significant anti-American sentiment in Saudi Arabia. They regard us as infidel invaders of the holy land and will stop at nothing to get us to leave. The Royal Family is not exactly popular with many of its citizens either. We should consider that in any future plans for their training programs.

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