At least four people are dead, including the attacker, after a shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola on Friday morning. Seven people were injured and remain in the hospital.
The suspected shooter was a citizen of Saudi Arabia who was at the U.S. base as an aviation student, NPR has learned, confirming a detail that was first reported by the Associated Press. The Pensacola air station is a training ground for students from various branches of the U.S. military, along with personnel from U.S. allies abroad.
Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan says the first call of an active shooter came in at 6:51 a.m. local time. Within an hour of the first public alert, his office said, "The shooter is confirmed dead."
Deputies who responded to the scene engaged the attacker in a shootout that transpired over two floors of a classroom building at the military base, Chief Deputy Chip Simmons said. One of those deputies killed the shooter, he said.
Two sheriff's deputies who responded to the scene have injuries that are not life-threatening — one was shot in the arm and one in the knee, officials said at a news conference held at the air station's front gates late Friday morning.
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"Walking through the crime scene was like being on the set of a movie," Morgan said.
He says his agency is not looking for any other assailants.
The U.S. Navy says the air station will be closed for all of Friday as authorities investigate, with only essential personnel allowed onto the site.
Rep. Matt Gaetz tells local TV station WEAR 3 News that the attack took place at Building 633, which he describes as "right in the center of the campus."
The large building houses the Naval Air Schools Command, and in Navy documents that are online, Building 633 is identified as the place where new aviation students should report to have their orders signed.
The nearby Baptist Hospital says it received eight patients from the shooting; authorities later said one of those patients had died while receiving care. The hospital did not provide other details, other than saying it's working with the Navy to get in touch with relatives of the people who were hurt.
Residents who live near the air station tell local media outlets that they heard sirens and an emergency bulletin over the PA system, telling them to get somewhere safe.
"Both gates of NASP are currently secured due to reports of an active shooter," the air station announced in a brief Facebook post about the attack Friday morning.
"This doesn't happen in Escambia County. It doesn't happen in Pensacola; it doesn't happen to our friends and neighbors who are members of the United States Navy," said Morgan, the sheriff. He added, "But it did. And it has."
It's the second shooting at a U.S. Navy facility this week, coming two days after a Navy sailor shot and killed two civilian employees at Hawaii's Pearl Harbor military installation.
Naval Air Station Pensacola is large, with more than 16,000 military and 7,400 civilian personnel in Escambia County, Fla. It includes Navy and Marines aviation training centers, and it's the home of the Blue Angels flight aerobatics team.
"We're a military town," Pensacola Mayor Grover C. Robinson IV said, adding that the community's "hearts and prayers" are with those affected by the attack.
Security agents at the air station and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are currently investigating the shooting, the Navy says.
Robinson said both the White House and the governor's office have also been in touch to offer their support and help in the aftermath of the shooting.
This is a developing story. Some facts reported by the media may later turn out to be wrong. We will focus on reports from police officials and other authorities, credible news outlets and reporters who are at the scene. We will update as the situation develops.
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