6 Saudi nationals detained for questioning after NAS Pensacola shooting: official
Six Saudi nationals were detained for questioning near a naval air station in Pensacola, Florida, after a Saudi gunman opened fire, killing three people before being shot dead by officers; Jonathan Serrie reports.
The Saudi national who opened fire in a classroom at a naval air station in Florida Friday morning, killing three before being shot dead by officers, wrote anti-American and anti-Israeli tweets before the rampage, reports say.
Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, who was said to be a second lieutenant in a flight training program for foreign military personnel at Naval Air Station Pensacola, posted a short manifesto to Twitter, AFP reported, citing the SITE Intelligence Group, a group that monitors jihadist media.
6 SAUDI NATIONALS DETAINED FOR QUESTIONING AFTER NAS PENSACOLA SHOOTING: OFFICIAL
A spokesperson for Twitter told Fox News in an email statement Saturday that the account was suspended but they declined to comment further as to when the manifesto was tweeted out.
The FBI told Fox News it was aware of the anti-American Twitter post, but would not comment on whether they're looking at it as part of the investigation.
Alshamrani entered a classroom early Friday morning and opened fired, killing three people and injuring several others, including two Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies, who were the first to respond.
Sources told Fox News that the scene of the shooting -- the classroom, where students usually spend three months at the beginning of the program -- indicated that the shooter was a student who was “early” in his training.
The majority of the hundreds of foreign aviation students who have participated in the program are from Saudi Arabia, the Navy said. The Naval training program has about 1,500 pilots in total.
Six Saudi nationals were detained for questioning following Friday’s shooting, although their ties to the shooter were not immediately known.
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The shooting is the second at a U.S. naval base this week. A sailor whose submarine was docked at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, opened fire on three civilian employees Wednesday, killing two before taking his own life.
Fox News’ Vandana Rambaran, Jacqui Heinrich and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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