PENSACOLA, Fla. — For the second time this week, a deadly shooting unfolded at a US Navy base Friday when a gunman killed at least three people and injured several others at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida.
The suspected shooter, who was also killed, was a member of the Saudi Arabian military training at the station, according to five US defense officials and another person familiar with the investigation.
Investigators are looking into whether the shooting was terror-related as a possible motive, but it’s still early in the investigation.
CNN has reached out to the Saudi Embassy in the US and has not heard back.
President Donald Trump has spoken with the King of Saudi Arabia about the shooting, he said 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,” the president said.
In a news conference Friday afternoon, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis mentioned the connection to the Saudi Air Force and said that he had spoken to Trump about it.
“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,” he said.
“Obviously,” DeSantis added, “the government of Saudi Arabia needs to make things better for these victims.”
Two deputies who confronted the shooter were injured
The shooter used a handgun and was killed after two deputies exchanged gunfire with him, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan told reporters.
The FBI has taken over the investigation, according to an FBI spokeswoman.
Eight people were taken to Baptist Health Care, including one who died, said Chief Deputy Chip Simmons. The deputies who confronted the shooter also suffered gunshot wounds — one in the arm and one in the knee. Both are expected to survive.
The shooting occurred in a classroom building, Commanding Officer of NAS Pensacola Capt. Tim Kinsella said. The base will remain on lockdown until further notice, he said.
The names of the victims are not being released until authorities notify their families.
Walking through the scene “was like being on the set of a movie,” Morgan said.
“This doesn’t happen in Escambia County. It doesn’t happen in Pensacola. It doesn’t happen to our friends and neighbors who are members of the US Navy,” Morgan said. “But it did, and it has.”
The shooting comes just two days after an active duty US sailor, Gabriel Romero, killed two civilian employees and injured another before killing himself at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii. Investigators have not announced a motive for the Wednesday shooting.
White House monitoring Pensacola shooting
The White House and the governor’s office reached out to local authorities to offer assistance, Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson said.
Naval Air Station Pensacola employs more than 16,000 military and 7,400 civilian personnel, according to the base’s website. Many families also live there, said retired Rear Adm. John Kirby, CNN’s military and diplomatic analyst, who was once stationed there.
“They love the base there,” Kirby said of the sailors. “It’s a great relationship between the people of Pensacola and the Navy and the base there. It’s a terrific Navy town.”
FBI personnel from Pensacola, Jacksonville and Mobile, Alabama, are responding to the station, an FBI spokeswoman said. Multiple agencies are cooperating on the investigation, including local law enforcement and Naval Criminal Investigative Services.
