The shooter who killed 3 people at Naval Air Station (NAS) in the U.S. state of Florida was a Saudi military trainee, the governor said Friday. The g
The shooter who killed 3 people at Naval Air Station (NAS) in the U.S. state of Florida was a Saudi military trainee, the governor said Friday.
The gunman also injured eight others before being shot and killed by deputies.
“There’s 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,” Gov. Ron DeSantis told a news conference.
The governor said Riyadh owes a debt to the victims of the shooting in Pensacola.
On the motive of the shooting, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan, said “don’t expect quick answers,” and noted that all answers will be provided in time.
Saudi King Salman expressed his condolences over the incident, said President Donald Trump on Twitter.
“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.
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida said the shooting demonstrates “a serious failure” in the vetting process and in the way which the U.S. invites trainees to its community.
“I’m working with the Department of Defense, State Department, and Homeland Security to ensure there’s extreme vetting for people who come to our country and train on our bases,” Gaetz said on Twitter. “This was not a murder. This was an act of terrorism.”
On Wednesday, in a shooting at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii, a sailor shot dead two workers before taking his own life.