US Naval Air Station Shooter Identified As Saudi Air Force Officer Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, Terror Links Being Probed

The suspect in a shooting that killed three people and injured several others at a naval base in Pensacola, Florida, on Friday (Dec 6) morning was a member of the Saudi Air Force who was in the U.S. for training, NBC reported.

2nd Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani opened fire inside a classroom at  Naval Air Station in Pensacola early Friday morning before a sheriff's deputy fatally shot him . He was undergoing a three-year U.S. Air Force Foreign Military Sales training program in August.

Hours earlier, a twitter post in Alshamrani's name said America had become "a nation of evil" and quoted Osama bin Laden.

Six other Saudi nationals were arrested near the base shortly after the attack, as investigators began to probe a terror link. According to a report in The New York Time, three of them were seen filming the entire incident as it unfolded.

Saudi officials condemned the shooting and claimed they are willing to cooperate with the investigation.

US President Donald Trump said the Saudi king called with condolences and denounced the attack, which didn't represent "the feelings of the Saudi people who love the American people so much."

"King Salman of Saudi Arabia just called to express his sincere condolences and give his sympathies to the families and friends" of the victims, Trump tweeted.

Naval Air Station Pensacola employs more than 16,000 military and 7,400 civilian personnel. Over 5000 foreign students from 153 countries, including 852 Saudis, are in the United States for Department of Defense security cooperation-related training.