New emerging details about the mass shooting Friday morning at the Naval Air Station Pensacola in Pensacola, Florida that left four people dead, including the Saudi perpetrator, suggest that the attack may have been motivated by Islamic terrorism.
And according to House Judiciary Committee member Matt Gaetz, the evidence regarding this clear-cut “act of terrorism,” as he put it, is strong enough to warrant ensuring that the government continues to employ the most stringent “extreme vetting” methods necessary to ensure the safety of the American people.
Look:
This was not a murder. This was an act of terrorism. pic.twitter.com/AJfTQOOE68
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) December 6, 2019
We’re learning a Saudi Arabian military member in Pensacola committed these murders.
I’m working with the @DeptofDefense, @StateDept, and @DHSgov to ensure there’s extreme vetting for people who come to our country and train on our bases. pic.twitter.com/LUhSE6UAHO
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) December 6, 2019
“This event demonstrates a serious failure in the vetting process and in the way in which we invite these people to our community,” he said in a video statement posted to social media.
“So today, as we learn more, as the investigation continues to unfold as to the motives and engagements of this particular murderer, I’m going to be very active in working with the Department of Defense and the Department of State to ensure that we have extreme vetting for the people who come into our country to train on our bases and in our communities.”
His tweets concerned what happened early Friday morning, when Saudi national Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, a second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force who was reportedly at the base for training, opened fire, killing three people and injuring eight others before being killed by local sheriff’s deputies.
According to the Associated Press, the attack is being investigated by U.S. officials “for possible links to terrorism” — and for good reason, it would appear.
Late Friday news broke that six other Saudi nationals had been “detained” near the naval air station, and that three of them had been filming the attack.
“Six other Saudi nationals were detained for questioning near the scene of the shooting, including three who were seen filming the entire incident, according to a person briefed on the initial stages of the investigation,” The New York Times confirmed.
It’s not clear whether they were also participating in training. Nor is it clear why some of them were filming the attack. One emerging theory is that they’d been recording footage for a pro-terrorism propaganda video.
According to Rita Katz, the director of SITE Intelligence Group, an NGO that tracks terrorism, tweets and retweets allegedly posted by Alshamrani prior to the mass shooting Friday also suggest a “terrorist motive.”
Look:
BREAKING: Tweet by #Pensacola attacker Alshamrani suggests terrorist motive. Does not claim allegiance to any group, but echos Bin Laden: “The security is a shared destiny…You will not be safe until we live it as reality in [Palestine], and American troops get out of our land.” pic.twitter.com/KALH4PXYKy
— Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) December 7, 2019
2) The issue of #Jerusalem seems to have been a critical point of Shamrani’s anger. His second-most recent of his tweets (just before his will) was an RT of Trump’s December 2017 Jerusalem speech, made sometime in the last 48 hours. pic.twitter.com/wjP7FMzZXW
— Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) December 7, 2019
#Pensacola shooter Twitter account was created in 2012 and amasses over 2,700 tweets.
— Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) December 7, 2019
And according to an unconfirmed report from the Russian news website RT, Alshamrani also left a manifesto in which he ranted about America’s “war of attrition” against Muslims.
“I’m not against you for just being American, I don’t hate you because of your freedoms. I hate you because every day you [support] funding and committing crimes not only against Muslims but also humanity,” the manifesto reportedly reads.
The manifesto also reportedly warns that the American people won’t be “safe” until U.S. military forces withdraw from “our lands,” regardless of how much money Washington commits to defense spending.
As more information about the Naval Air Station Pensacola shooting and its perpetrator emerge, more and more top political figures are coming out of the woodwork to echo Gaetz’s demands for change and investigations:
I’m very concerned that the shooter in Pensacola was a foreign national training on a US base.
Today, I’m calling for a full review of the US military programs to train foreign nationals on American soil. We shouldn’t be providing military training to people who wish us harm. pic.twitter.com/JkypdikYI9
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) December 6, 2019
Todays attack at Naval Air Station Pensacola is both tragic & deeply disturbing.
Foreign military aviators sent to the U.S. for training undergo extensive security & suitability vetting.
And no student is allowed to carry weapons inside this facility. 1/2
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 6, 2019
Military trainees aren’t allowed into these programs if the vetting turns up any derogatory information & our foreign partners that conducts their own vetting as well
But today’s tragic attack has exposed some serious flaw in that process which must be discovered & corrected 2/2
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 6, 2019
I’ve trained with foreign nationals in military bases all over the United States.
The relationships we build together are very important. It’s critical that our allies learn how to operate the American military equipment we sell to them.
— Rep. Michael Waltz (@RepMichaelWaltz) December 6, 2019
However, clearly someone dropped the ball in vetting this Saudi national and we must get to the bottom of what happened.
— Rep. Michael Waltz (@RepMichaelWaltz) December 6, 2019
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V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.
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