PENSACOLA, Fla. — Naval Air Station Pensacola remains closed for the day after a gunman opened fire Friday morning, killing at least three people and injuring several others before he was shot and killed, authorities have said.
- 7 people were injured, including 2 Escambia County deputies
- Shooting happened in one of the classroom buildings
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Seven people were injured, including two Escambia County deputies, during the shooting.
Officials are saying the shooter was a Saudi aviation student and authorities are now investigating if the shooting is terror related.
According to Chief Deputy Chip W. Simmons of the Escambia County Sheriff's Office in a news conference, the shooting occurred in one of the classroom buildings sometime before 8 a.m. EST.
Officials declined to say whether the suspected shooter is a military member, however, it was stated that there were no other suspects.
Gov. Ron DeSantis called it a "dark day for a very great place" but saluted the work of first-responders.
"The response that we saw from the deputies from Escambia County ... I can tell you lives were saved because of the response," he said.
NAS Pensacola first posted about the shooting on its Facebook page early Friday morning reporting that the gates were closed and secured due to reports of an active shooter.
The Escambia County Sheriff's Office received a call about the shooting just before 8 a.m. EST and confirmed that the shooting was no longer active and the shooter was dead shortly before 9 a.m. EST.
Navy Capt. Tim Kinsella said that guns are not permitted on the base.
During a press conference Friday morning, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan confirmed two deputies were injured when they engaged with the shooter before killing him. They are both expected to survive.
The several other people injured were taken to Baptist Health Care in Pensacola. Their conditions have not been released.
President Donald Trump, Florida U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, and DeSantis have responded to the shooting on Twitter.
DeSantis said he spoke with Trum about the shooting and the need for accountability.
"One of the things that I talked to the president about is, given that this was a foreign national in the employ of a foreign service, and there'll be time to do this, but obviously, the government of Saudi Arabia needs to make things better for these victims," he said. "And I they're going to owe a debt here, given that this was one of their individuals."
NAS Pensacola, which is home of the Blue Angels, employs more than 16,000 military and 7,400 civilian personnel, according to its website.
The base will remain shut down until further notice.
Friday's lockdown in Pensacola comes just two days after an active duty U.S. sailor killed two civilian employees and injured another before killing himself at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii.
Information from Associated Press and CNN was used in this report.