The FBI is presuming the Pensacola shooting to be a terrorist attack after a Saudi national killed three at a Naval base in Florida.
“We work with the presumption that this was an act of terrorism,” Rachel Rojas, FBI special agent in charge, said at a news conference Sunday.
Rojas and Defense Secretary Mark Esper also confirmed that two of the other Saudi nationals being investigated in connection to the recent shooting were filming the attack.
Six Saudi nationals had been arrested after Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, also a Saudi national, opened fire at a Naval base in Pensacola, Florida, killing three and wounding seven others on Friday morning.
The New York Times reported that sources said other Saudi nationals had filmed the horrific shooting, which Esper confirmed Sunday. It is not yet clear why the individuals were filming.
“So some [Saudi Nationals] were detained; friends of his that were also on that base as I understand it. And I also was told that someone, or two, were filming it. What’s unclear is were they filming it before it began, or was it something where they picked up their phones and filmed it once they saw it unfolding. That may be a distinction with or without a difference, but again that is why I think we need to let the investigation play out.” he told Fox News Sunday.
Authorities noted that that the FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of terror.
