NAS Pensacola shooting details emerge

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Pensacola Shooting Suspect Identified as Saudi Training at Air Base
A member of the Saudi Air Force training at a U.S. Navy base in Florida is suspected of killing at least three people and injuring eight, in a shooting that is being investigated as potential terrorism, authorities said.

The shooter, who used a handgun, also died during the incident at Naval Air Station Pensacola early Friday, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said at a news conference. Officials said they aren’t looking for any other assailants.

“I believe we can safely call this an act of terror, not an act of workplace violence,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.), whose district includes Pensacola, said in a local TV interview. He said the Federal Bureau of Investigation is taking over the investigation.

Re: NAS Pensacola shooting details emerge

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highdesert wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2019 6:23 pm 9/11, Kobar Towers...now Pensacola. Huge wealth, corruption and religious fundamentalism, a disastrous mix and the Saudi rulers seem oblivious.
Not oblivious. Complicit in some cases. They use religion like Trump/Barr/Pence/Pompeo/Etc want to: As an old school method of control for the rulers and the empire.
It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Six Saudi nationals were arrested near the naval base in Pensacola, Fla., where a Saudi gunman opened fire Friday, killing three before turning the gun on himself, a senior U.S. official told Fox News. The suspects were taken into custody and are being questioned about the shooting, the source said.

The FBI, which is leading the investigation into the incident that took place early Friday morning at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola in Florida, declined to reveal the identity of the shooter in the early stages of the investigation, but a U.S. official told Fox News that the gunman was an aviation student from Saudi Arabia named Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani.
Esper referred to the shooter as a Saudi national who was a second lieutenant in flight training.

Sources told Fox News that the scene of the shooting -- a 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.
Saudis have received training at the Pensacola site since the 1970s, with as many as 20 students from the Middle Eastern country in any given class, sources told Fox News. Many of the students are often from the Royal Family, putting pressure on officials to pass pilots through the training program in an attempt to preserve diplomacy with the U.S. ally. Many U.S. military pilots have complained for decades that some of the Saudi pilots are not safe flyers, sources said.

Security at the base had been beefed up over the last five years and the addition of a front gate barred access to civilians from neighboring Pensacola. It would take civilians about 45 minutes to get through security at the front gate but not every car is always checked, sources said.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/saudis-arres ... a-shooting

The base commander stated there are a couple of hundred international students currently at NAS Pensacola.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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eelj wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 7:03 am Didn't read anything in the fox link to indicate an act of terrorism, what do they have other than his religious beliefs? Of course the "war on terror" is a big money maker, gotta have terrorists.
Guns are prohibited on base so a question everyone has is where did it come from.
The FBI are yet to declare a motive but are believed to be investigating for links to terrorism. "There are many reports circulating, but the FBI deals only in facts," special agent Rachel Rojas told a news conference on Friday night.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50695797
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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The Saudi gunman who attacked a Florida navy base on Friday played videos of mass shootings at a dinner beforehand, according to a US official.
Authorities were alerted to the shooting at the Pensacola base at 06:51 (12:51 GMT). It took place across two floors of a classroom building and ended when a sheriff's deputy killed Alshamrani.
The names of the victims have not been officially released, but family members of one of them have spoken publicly.

They say Joshua Kaleb Watson, 23, was shot several times but made it out of the building to alert first responders. On Facebook, his brother Adam Watson wrote: "He died a hero and we are beyond proud but there is a hole in our hearts that can never be filled."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50701665

Funny Trump hasn't been on Twitter talking about Muslims being murderers like he usually does about immigrants and minorities.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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highdesert wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 9:00 am Guns are prohibited on base so a question everyone has is where did it come from.
Yes, but getting a gun onto a base isn't challenging. It's not like they search people coming in, especially if they work on the base. You just carry it on like you could into a business that has a sign that says "no guns". I'd be interested to know how he acquired a handgun though, as a foreign national newly in the country.

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highdesert wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 8:30 pm
The Saudi gunman who attacked a Florida navy base on Friday played videos of mass shootings at a dinner beforehand, according to a US official.
Authorities were alerted to the shooting at the Pensacola base at 06:51 (12:51 GMT). It took place across two floors of a classroom building and ended when a sheriff's deputy killed Alshamrani.
The names of the victims have not been officially released, but family members of one of them have spoken publicly.

They say Joshua Kaleb Watson, 23, was shot several times but made it out of the building to alert first responders. On Facebook, his brother Adam Watson wrote: "He died a hero and we are beyond proud but there is a hole in our hearts that can never be filled."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50701665

Funny Trump hasn't been on Twitter talking about Muslims being murderers like he usually does about immigrants and minorities.
Interesting point. His minions screamed about it and he just let it go. Who woulda guessed it?
It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

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The gunman and three other Saudi military trainees visited New York City recently, including several museums and Rockefeller Center, according to the person. Investigators are seeking to determine whether the trip was a tourist excursion during the Thanksgiving holiday week in New York, or whether the Saudi trainees had other motives or met with other people there.
Lieutenant Alshamrani initially entered the United States in 2017, when his training with the United States military began, Pentagon officials said. After his initial arrival in the country, he attended language school at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, the officials said, and took classes in English and aviation.
During school breaks, he would travel home to Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon officials said. When he returned to the United States in February, friends and colleagues noticed that he had become more religious, said the person briefed on the investigation. It was not immediately clear what he did between February and this week, when he signed into his new training unit in Pensacola, but he had been living in the area.
Six other Saudi nationals were detained for questioning near the scene of the shooting, which took place over two floors in a classroom on the base. Three of the Saudis who were detained had been seen filming the entire incident, according to another person briefed on the investigation.

It was not known whether the six Saudis detained were students in the classroom building, and there was no immediate indication that those filming the incident were connected to the gunman, the person said.

The Saudis who filmed the shooting told investigators that they just happened to be there at that time, were caught up in the moment and wanted to capture it, the person said.

The authorities have said that there is no credible threat to the Pensacola community, and one of the senior officials said that all Saudi trainees on base had been accounted for.
But federal law enforcement officials said it was too early to establish the gunman’s motive.

The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist activity, cited a Twitter account with a name matching the gunman that had posted a “will” calling the United States a “nation of evil” and criticizing its support for Israel.

SITE said the account had also quoted Osama bin Laden, the former Qaeda leader, and was critical of United States foreign policy. “I’m not against you for just being American,” the posts said. “I don’t hate you because your freedoms, I hate you because every day you supporting, funding and committing crimes not only against Muslims but also humanity.”

The account could not be independently verified, and law enforcement officials did not confirm that it was connected to the gunman.
The gunman used a locally purchased Glock 45 9-millimeter handgun with an extended magazine and had four to six other magazines in his possession, according to one of the people briefed on the investigation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/07/us/n ... ctims.html
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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Chuck64 wrote: Sun Dec 08, 2019 12:53 pm FBI confirmed in news conference weapon was a Glock 45.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Yes and that it was legally purchased in FL but the SAC refused to say at this time who purchased the gun. She said the FBI has 80 agents working the case and more in ATF, NCIS...and state and local. They are presuming it's terrorism so they have additional tools they can use.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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highdesert wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2019 6:23 pm 9/11, Kobar Towers...now Pensacola. Huge wealth, corruption and religious fundamentalism, a disastrous mix and the Saudi rulers seem oblivious.
Don’t forget the first Trade Towers bombing in 1993 with Saudi citizens involvement. Also the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident, journalist for The Washington Post.

The Saudi’s have been involved in more terrorist attacks on Us Soil than Iran. Can any one name a terrorist attack on the US sponsored by Iran? I asked my wife and we couldn’t think of one.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

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Saudi Arabia is the prime example where a totalitarian regime colludes with religious fundamentalists to support each other. The Saud family protects and promotes the fundamentalist clerics, in return for their unquestionable support of the absolute monarchy.

Does that sound familiar?
Glad that federal government is boring again.

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TrueTexan wrote: Sun Dec 08, 2019 7:38 pm
highdesert wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2019 6:23 pm 9/11, Kobar Towers...now Pensacola. Huge wealth, corruption and religious fundamentalism, a disastrous mix and the Saudi rulers seem oblivious.
Don’t forget the first Trade Towers bombing in 1993 with Saudi citizens involvement. Also the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident, journalist for The Washington Post.

The Saudi’s have been involved in more terrorist attacks on Us Soil than Iran. Can any one name a terrorist attack on the US sponsored by Iran? I asked my wife and we couldn’t think of one.
True Iran hasn't directly attacked the US, but their strategy is to use a whole network of proxies which have attacked the US. Hezbollah in Lebanon is a Shiite terrorist group funded by Iran that is responsible for the attack on the barracks that killed 200 US Marines in 1983. Iran was determined to be legally responsible for the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Iran also had a part in the bombing of the USS Cole. The Shiite militias in Iraq are funded by Iran.
Iran’s emphasis on developing proxy forces goes back to the 1979 revolution that deposed the American-backed shah and gave rise to the Islamic Republic. The Shiite theocracy sought to export its revolution and empower Shiite groups in the Middle East from the outset. Middle East Institute senior fellow Alex Vatanka called this expansionist ethos “part of [Iran’s] DNA.” Many — though not all — of the groups Iran sponsors are Shiite. While ideology plays a role in Iran’s foreign policy, experts say the regime’s primary goal is to project power throughout the Middle East to counter American, Israeli, and Saudi influence.

The success of Iran’s strategy rests in large part on its ability to capitalize on power vacuums in the Middle East, Vatanka said. Most recently, Iran has broadened its reach by backing militias in war-torn Yemen and Syria amid the chaos ushered in by the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011.

How does Iran do this? Primarily through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, a special arm of its military focused on external operations. (The Trump administration designated the IRGC a foreign terrorist organization in April). Led by IRGC Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who answers directly to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, this branch organizes and trains fighters with allied militias and provides them with weapons, according to a recent report by the Soufan Center. Iran also uses soft power to cement economic alliances with countries like Iraq, where Iran has supported local militias in the fight against American forces in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and later in the battle against the Islamic State.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/mi ... story.html
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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We screwed up and became an enemy of many Iranians starting back in 1953 when the CIA proceeded to overthrow the legitimate elected liberal government of Iran and install the Shah into power creating a brutal dictatorship. It was the first covert action of the United States to overthrow a foreign government during peacetime. The CIA has acknowledge the coup was carried out "under CIA direction" and "as an act of U.S. foreign policy, conceived and approved at the highest levels of government". So maybe we can understand why the Iranians don't care for us. Also after the Shah was overthrown and the correct government was established we continued to try and undermine the government of Iran. All this in the name of Oil. What's really bad it wasn't even American oil interest at stake but the British company later part of BP. It didn't help or relations when we used our puppet Saddam to start the Iraq Iran war and even supplying chemical weapons to the Iraq army to use against Iran.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iran ... p_d%27état

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_che ... ainst_Iran

When it comes to the Oil Kingdoms of the MiddleEast, we have got ourselves in a never ending conflict that has twist and turns that make Putin's Russian moves look like child's play. We have hostilities and grudges that date back hundreds if not thousand years or more. Keep in mind the Iranians don't like the Arabs. Iranians are not Arab but Farsi (Persian) and the culture has roots back into antiquity when the Arab tribes and the Jews were still wondering in the desert in small tribes.

We are in a no win situation in the middle-east. Best thing we could do is a disengagement from that area. We are the largest oil producing nation. We need to stop exporting our oil. Why are we export our oil and importing oil from Saudi Arabia. We don't need to try and police an area and to solve issues that will never be solved.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

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Official: Base shooter watched shooting videos before attack
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — The Saudi student who fatally shot three sailors at a U.S. naval base in Florida hosted a dinner party earlier in the week where he and three others watched videos of mass shootings, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Officials investigating the deadly attack were working Saturday to determine whether it was motivated by terrorism, while President Donald Trump indicated he would review policies governing foreign military training in the United States.

The Navy on Saturday identified the three victims and hailed them as heroes for trying to stop the shooter and flagging down first responders after being shot.

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JohnNewell wrote: Tue Dec 10, 2019 4:23 pm Saudi is a large purchaser of US military hardware. We can't expect them to buy the hardware if we don't train their people.
Yes, the Saudis do buy a lot of US made military hardware but the manufacturer of the aircraft should train on their own planes, that wouldn't have to take place in the US. And English classes which the shooter took at Lackland AFB in TX can be taken anywhere even in Saudi Arabia.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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As for how he got the gun.
WASHINGTON — More than six months before the Dec. 6 shooting at a naval base in Pensacola, Florida where a Saudi gunman used a weapon obtained using a hunting license exemption, the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a report warning about precisely this loophole.

The FBI warning, dated May 22 and titled “Federal Hunting License Exception Could Be Exploited by Extremists or Criminal Actors Seeking to Obtain Firearms for Violent Attacks,” was sent from the bureau’s Office of Private Sector, according to a copy reviewed by Yahoo News. The warning encouraged businesses to be aware that “that extremists and other criminal actors could exploit the federal statutory exception that allows non-immigrant visa holders” who normally can’t buy firearms or ammunition to legally purchase them “with a valid hunting license or permit.”

The warning goes on to note that foreign “terrorist organizations, including ISIS, have encouraged Westerners to exploit perceived gaps in gun laws to conduct mass casualty shooting attacks in their home countries,” and that foreign national visa-holders “could use this hunting license exception to obtain firearms to commit violence in the Homeland.”

This warning is strikingly similar to the circumstances surrounding the shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola where a Saudi national named Mohammed Alshamrani killed three people and wounded eight others. Alshamrani, who was killed by law enforcement at the scene, was identified by the FBI on Dec. 7, the day after the shooting, as a 21-year-old second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force who was attending a training program at the Navy facility.

Alshamrani, who the FBI confirmed Tuesday had used the hunting license exemption to purchase a firearm, reportedly posted Tweets just prior to the shooting that appeared to reflect the writings of terrorist organizations, like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.

A woman who answered the phone at Uber’s Lock and Gun, the Pensacola retailer that reportedly sold the gun to Alshamrani, declined to comment on whether the store received the bulletin from the FBI. Two other Florida gun retailers told Yahoo News they had not received the FBI report and were unaware of the bureau’s Office of Private Sector. The owner of a third Florida gun shop told Yahoo News he does receive bulletins from the FBI office, but he could not recall the report on the hunting license loophole.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Rachel Rojas, who is leading the investigation, told reporters on Sunday that Alshamrani carried out the shooting using a Glock 9mm pistol that was “legally and lawfully purchased.” Nonresident immigrants can purchase handguns in Florida provided they meet certain exceptions including possessing a valid hunting license or if they work as a representative of a foreign government or law enforcement agency.

The FBI referred questions about how Alshamrani obtained his gun to the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. A spokesperson for the ATF confirmed it was a “legal sale,” but would not provide details on how Alshamrani qualified to purchase the weapon.

An FBI spokesperson told Yahoo News that the Pensacola shooter legally bought the 9mm Glock on July 20. The FBI also confirmed the shooter used a valid Florida hunting license to purchase the weapon, although “he may have qualified under other exceptions as well.”

NBC News first reported that he bought his weapon through the hunting license loophole.

During a press conference on Sunday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Alshamrani was able to buy the firearm because of “a federal loophole that he took advantage of.”

Helen Aguirre Ferre, a spokesperson for the governor, said DeSantis is now pushing for changes to all of the loopholes that allow foreigners to purchase firearms in the U.S.

“The Governor has made clear that he is a strong proponent of the Second Amendment for United States citizens but foreign nationals need to be treated differently,” Ferre said. “Governor DeSantis is advocating federal partners to require, at a minimum, improved vetting by both the U.S. and foreign governments.”

“The tragedy at Naval Air Station Pensacola could have been avoided and that is more than regrettable,” she added.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pensaco ... 1f411e045a
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

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The Pentagon has suspended operational training for all Saudi military students in the United States, indefinitely halting flight instruction, firing range training and all other operations outside the classroom in the wake of a shooting last week at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida by a member of the Saudi Royal Air Force.

The suspension will affect nearly 900 Saudi students across the country, the Defense Department said on Tuesday. Classroom teaching, including language courses, will continue while Pentagon leaders review vetting procedures for all foreign military trainees. An estimated 5,200 international students in the United States will be covered by the security review.

The “safety stand-down” was issued pending the results of an F.B.I. investigation into the shooting on Friday that left three young sailors dead and eight other people wounded. Several lawmakers, including Senator Rick Scott of Florida and Representative Matt Gaetz, whose congressional district includes Pensacola, had called for a review of foreign military programs and their screening process. The suspension of operational training for hundreds of Saudi military students is an extraordinary rebuke by the Pentagon, especially at a time when President Trump has tamped down suggestions that the Saudi government must be held to account on an array of recent issues.

Senior Defense Department officials, speaking to reporters in a hastily organized conference call on Tuesday night, insisted that suspending operational training for students from Saudi Arabia — the only country singled out for a broader review of security procedures governing the international military students — would be short-term and would not upset the strategic relationship between the two countries.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper called his Saudi counterpart, Khalid bin Salman, to discuss the new limitations on Saudi military students, who are now essentially restricted to classroom training like English language courses. It was unclear whether the review of security and vetting procedures means that federal investigators have found something troubling, or whether it was merely a precautionary measure. Lawmakers praised the Defense Department’s action on the Saudi trainees.
“The Department has trained more than 28,000 Saudi students over the life of our security cooperation relationship without serious incident,” Mr. Norquist wrote.

He gave military staff members 10 days to complete a review of policies for vetting foreign students and granting access to American military bases, though the Saudi operational suspension will most likely last longer.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, called the exceptions a “loophole” in federal gun laws that should be closed.

“I’m a big supporter of the Second Amendment, but the Second Amendment applies so that we the American people can keep and bear arms,” Mr. DeSantis, a former Navy prosecutor, said at a Sunday news conference in Pensacola. “But it does not apply to Saudi Arabians.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/us/p ... dents.html
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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