I watched a live press briefing (gone now) on the shooting. Key points:
- Three victims dead, shooter dead.
- Despite an earlier USA Today report that the shooter killed himself, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan says his officers took the chumbucket out.
- Morgan also said the shooter used a “handgun.”
- A Navy spokesman (I missed name and rank) did say that weapons are not “authorized” on the base. Gun-free zone.
- Shooter was a Saudi national, in their Air Force, attending aviation classes.
- I was amused by the Sheriff’s repeated statements that his officers were heroes who did not run away or hide, but went towards the shooter, and did the job they trained for (take that, Broward County).
For obvious reasons, they are considering the possibility this was terrorism, but are not ruling out interpersonal conflicts.
One thing in the press conference I liked was the sheriff carefully explaining to the press that they are not going to release a lot of information about the incident itself, or the weapon(s) involved until all witnesses are interviewed. That’s quite reasonable, as they don’t want witnesses’ memories unconsciously affected by reports.
He was reluctant to even say a handgun was used, and gave no other details about it; not even whether it was a pistol or revolver.
As a non-immigrant student, most likely the shooter was not allowed to possess a firearm, though there are exceptions, and his military status complicates things somewhat. Certainly he wasn’t supposed to have one on base.