FBI formally identifies Florida naval base shooter

WASHINGTON-Anadolu Agency

The FBI officially identified the shooter who killed three sailors at Naval Air Station (NAS) in the U.S. state of Florida.

"The NAS Pensacola shooter is identified as Saudi national Mohammed Alshamrani," the Bureau's Jacksonville office said on Twitter.

The gunman also injured eight others before being shot and killed Friday by deputies in Pensacola.

The Hill news website reported Alshamrani, 21, is Second Lieut. in the Royal Saudi Air Force "who was a student naval flight officer of Naval Aviation Schools Command."

The FBI said it does not see any "threat to the Pensacola community at this time."

In addition, the Navy identified the names of deceased sailor students on Dec. 5.

Three sailors killed in the shooting were identified as Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson, 23, from Alabama; Airman Mohammed Sameh Haitham, 19, from Florida and Airman Apprentice Cameron Scott Walters, 21, from Georgia.

"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," Governor Florida Ron DeSantis said at a news conference.

He said Riyadh owes a debt to the victims.

Shortly after the shooting, Republican congressman from Florida, Matt Gaetz, said it demonstrates "a serious failure" in the vetting process and in the way 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."

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said earlier on Dec. 5 that he would not label the shooting as terrorism.

"I can't say it's terrorism at this time," he said at the Ronald Reagan National Defense Forum in California.