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A gunman who shot dead four people on a major US Navy base in Florida was a member of the Saudi air force, the state governor has said.The suspect was shot dead minutes after opening fire at Naval Air Station Pensacola on Friday, the US Navy and local sheriff's office said.
It is the second deadly shooting at a US military installation this week.At least eight people were injured including two sheriff's deputies who were the first to respond, one of whom killed the gunman.One of the deputies was shot in the arm and the other in the knee and both were expected to recover following the incident in a classroom building.Florida governor Ron DeSantis said the suspect was a Saudi national attending training at the base as part of long-standing Navy programme open to US allies."The government of Saudi Arabia needs to make things better for these victims.
They are going to owe a debt here, given that this was one of their individuals," Mr DeSantis said at a news conference.US President Donald Trump said Saudi Arabia's King Salman called him to offer condolences and sympathy to the victims."The King said that the Saudi people are greatly angered by the barbaric actions of the shooter," Mr Trump tweeted.King Salman condemned the shooting and said Saudi security services were working with US agencies to uncover the cause."The perpetrator of this heinous crime does not represent the Saudi people, who count the American people as friends and allies," he said in a statement.A person familiar with the Navy programme said Saudi air force officers selected for military training in the US are intensely vetted by both countries.The Saudi personnel are "hand-picked" by their military and often come from elite families, the person said speaking on condition of anonymity.US Defense Secretary Mark Esper has said he wants to see whether US vetting of these foreign military personnel is adequate.More than 16,000 military and 7,400 civilian personnel are employed at NAS Pensacola, according to its website.The shooting is the second at a US naval base this week after a sailor whose submarine was docked at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, opened fire on three civilian employees, killing two before he took his own life.
