Four dead, including attacker, at Pensacola Naval Base. Attacker was a Saudi national here for military training.

The barracks at Pensacola Naval Aviation Base. AFP/ABC News.

Four people are dead, including the attacker, and eight more were injured after a mass shooting at Pensacola Naval Base, Florida. ABC News. The attacker has been identified as  Mohammed Alshamran, a Saudi national who was in the United States for military training. He entered the classrooms of the base and shot several people before police arrived and killed him. Two of the police officers that responded to the attack were wounded but both are expected to survive. The motive has not been discovered but police have narrowed it down to either terrorism or a personal motivation based on the circumstances at the base. The suspect was armed with a handgun, but the base is a gun-free zone. President Trump contacted Saudi King Salaman on the issue and the king offered his condolences. 

My Comment:

The social media response to this attack has been baffling to say the least. Though people are being critical of Saudi Arabia for this attack they are focusing on Jamal Kashoggi of all things, the extremist Muslim that was killed by the Saudis. Why they think anyone cares about that story or what it has to do with a mass shooting is beyond me but since they think they can hurt President Trump with it they are screeching. 

I do think this incident brings into question the wisdom of bringing in foreign nationals to train. The attacker was here on behalf of the Saudi government to train to become a pilot. If he was somehow radicalized prior to entering America than the Saudis need to step up their vetting. If his motive was terrorism, and I am guessing it was, then the Saudis dropped the ball in not discovering that until he shot and killed three people. I think both Saudi Arabia and the United States should be digging into all the Saudi nationals here under this training program. 

The news story mentioned the possibility that the attack was motivated by personal reasons, not professional ones. That's certainly a possibility but it seems like a remote one. I can't imagine a pilot being treated so badly that he just randomly decided to shoot some people in revenge. The terror motive makes a lot more sense. 

Police response was pretty good. The attacker wasn't able to shoot many people before the police showed up and ventilated him. He was able to shoot nine people, not counting the two police officers he shot as well, but with a less professional police response he could have shot more. 

I do wonder what the circumstances of him obtaining a firearm were. If he was a military officer, he may have had his own pistol that he brought over from Saudi Arabia. Much like the attack the other day in Pearl Harbor, the attacker may have already owned his gun and there was very little anyone could do in preventing him from attacking. But if he didn't have a gun from his military service he must have purchased one, either legally or illegally. 

Speaking of guns, this attacks is yet another reminder that military bases are gun free zones, despite being staffed by people who have gotten training on firearms. The Pensacola Naval Base does not recognize CCW permits and forces all personally owned firearms to be locked up at the base armory. Though police response was good this time, there may have been less injuries and deaths if a sailor had been armed and could have fired back. 

If this turns out to be a terror attack it will be the first in awhile that has happened on US soil. It will also be unique in that the attacker was here on military business and not a refugee, immigrant or 2nd generation citizen. I doubt the attacker had any links to any terror groups as most of them have been destroyed, but it's still possible he was radicalized by someone he knew. 

I think there should be some questions asked about if we should still be training Saudi pilots at all. Though I don't care too much about their actions in Yemen, it does seem like a waste of money to train their pilots if they can't even vet them. There is a strong potential threat here and one that we should consider.

Finally, I think this attacker was pretty dumb. Given that he was training to be a military pilot, he could have used his skills in that area as a much more effective terror weapon. Not only could he have crashed a plane into something, he could have, after his training finished, gone rouge and staged an attack in the Middle East, possibly targeting an airliner. It is a good thing that he couldn't think of anything more creative than shooting a bunch of people...