The Saudi military officer who shot and killed 3 people at Naval Air Station Pensacola on Friday reportedly hosted a “dinner party” the week before the attack “to watch videos of mass shootings,” the Associated Press reports, citing an unnamed U.S. official.
- Second Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, an aviation student who arrived in the U.S. for training in 2017, was killed by an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputy after opening fire at the Florida base on Friday.
- The New York Times reports that six other Saudi nationals have been detained for questioning in connection to the deadly attack; three of them “had been seen filming the entire incident,” according to an unnamed source and corroborated by the Associated Press.
- “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 New York Times reports.
- Pentagon officials told the Washington Post that Shamrani’s training in the U.S. was scheduled to conclude in August 2020 and included English, basic aviation and initial aviation training.
- According to the Washington Post, more than 5,000 foreign students from 153 countries are currently in the United States for military training.
- Officials are working to determine whether the attack was an act of terrorism.