Iran Press/America: The gunman in a deadly shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida was a second lieutenant in the Saudi Arabian military involved in flight training at the station, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Friday.
Four people, including the assailant, were killed in the shooting and at least eight others were injured and taken to a hospital, authorities said according to CNN.
Two law enforcement sources told CNN the shooter, who was killed, has been identified as Saudi Arabian national Mohammad Al-Shamrani, who was an aviation student from Saudi Arabia training at the base in Pensacola, Florida.
Meanwhile, six Saudi nationals were detained for questioning in connection with the mass shooting.
A source briefed on the investigation told the New York Times that six people had been detained for questioning. Three of those people were seen filming the incident.
This was the fourth shooting incident at a US military base this year.
The US President Donald Trump, declined to call the shooting an act of terrorism and said he had received a phone call from King Salman who told him 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."
Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told reporters during a brief press conference that Saudi Arabia “needs to make things better for the victims” of the shooting. He also said that he spoke with Donald Trump about the issue, and the president agreed the Saudi government would owe a “debt” to the victims of this incident.
This is not the first terrorist attack on US soil which is committed by a Saudi national. Saudis played an important role in perpetrating the 11 September 2001 terror attacks in New York and Virginia.
Saudi officials have been lobbying the administration and Congress to overturn the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which led more than 800 families to file suit in New York in March.
According to The Washington Post, Trump’s Washington hotel received roughly $270,000 in payments linked to Saudi Arabia as part of a lobbying campaign by the Persian Gulf kingdom against the terrorism legislation. 101/211
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Two people killed, 7 injured at Florida Navy base
