Naval Air Station shooter ID'd as an aviation student from Saudi Arabia

Update: A U.S. official says the Florida Naval station shooting suspect was an aviation student from Saudi Arabia and authorities are investigating if the shooting was terrorism-related.

At least four people were killed and another 11 injured at Naval Air Station Pensacola Friday before the suspected gunman was fatally shot in a gunfire exchange with law enforcement.

The Florida base was put on lockdown shortly after officers received reports of an active shooter just before 7 a.m., Jason Bortz, a spokesman for the base, told the Pensacola News Journal. Both Navy officials and local authorities converged on the scene, where they engaged the suspect in a gun battle, police said.

The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office announced that there was no longer a threat to area in a Facebook post just before 9 a.m.

“The ESCO can confirm there is no longer an active shooter on NAS Pensacola,” it reads. “The shooter is confirmed dead.”

At least 11 patients have been transported to area hospitals — five to Baptist Hospital and another six to Sacred Heart Hospital — with injuries connected to the shooting, according to local reports. The conditions of those hurt in the violence have not been made clear.

“We are actively monitoring the shooting that occurred this morning at Naval Air Station Pensacola,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a tweet. “We are receiving updates from (the Florida Department of Law Enforcement) Commissioner Swearingen and offering our full support to law enforcement.”

The White House said President Donald Trump has also been briefed on the situation.

Agents with the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as well as FBI personnel form Pensacola, Jackson and Mobile, Ala. were responding to the scene late Friday morning. The US Navy said it was also “aware of reports of a possible active shooter” at the base, which employs more than 16,000 military and 7,400 civilian workers.

The Florida military facility, known as the “cradle of aviation,” is home to the Navy’s Blue Angel flight demonstration squadron and is a key training hub for those aiming to become a Naval pilot or flight officer.

The lockdown in Pensacola comes just days after an active duty US sailor killed two civilian employees and injured another before fatally shooting himself at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii.

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