ISLAMABAD – Saudi Arabia’s King Salman telephoned US President Donald Trumpto denounce the US Naval base shooting after media reports suggested theattacker was a Saudi military student.
King Salman affirmed that “the perpetrator of this heinous crime does notrepresent the Saudi people,” according to the official Saudi Press Agency.
Saudi Arabia has long been a major US ally in the Middle East, thanksprimarily to security considerations and oil.
Trump said King Salman “called to express his sincere condolences and givehis sympathies to the families and friends of the warriors who were killedand wounded in the attack that took place in Pensacola, Florida.”
A Saudi military student reportedly condemned America as a “nation of evil”in an online manifesto prior to opening fire Friday at the US naval base,killing three people before being shot dead by police.
The shooting, which took place in a classroom building at Naval Air StationPensacola in Florida, left eight others wounded, including two sheriff’sdeputies who responded to the attack.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the shooter was from Saudi Arabia — thesame nationality as 15 of the 19 men involved in the 9/11 attacks, some ofwhom attended civilian flight school in Florida.
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The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant media, identified himas Mohammed al-Shamrani, saying he had posted a short manifesto on Twitterthat read: “I’m against evil, and America as a whole has turned into anation of evil.”
“I’m not against you for just being American, I don’t hate you because yourfreedoms, I hate you because every day you supporting, funding andcommitting crimes against humanity,” he wrote.
ABC News reported that investigators were working to determine if it was infact written by the shooter.
The Twitter account that posted the manifesto has been suspended.
