US officials investigating the deadly attack by a Saudi aviation student at a naval air station in Florida were working Saturday to determine whether it was motivated by terrorism.
An aviation student from Saudi Arabia opened fire in a classroom at the Naval Air Station Pensacola on Friday morning, killing three people.
The assault, which prompted a massive law enforcement response and base lockdown, ended when a sheriff's deputy killed the attacker.
Eight people were hurt in the attack, including the two deputies, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said.
Florida US Sen. Rick Scott issued a scathing statement calling the shooting the second on a US Naval base this week an act of terrorism "whether this individual was motivated by radical Islam or was simply mentally unstable."
Scott added that it was "clear that we need to take steps to ensure that any and all foreign nationals are scrutinised and vetted extensively before being embedded with our American men and women in uniform."
Charles "Cully" Stimson cautioned against assuming that "because he was a Saudi national in their air force and he murdered our people, that he is a terrorist."
He said the king told him that "the Saudi people are greatly angered by the barbaric actions of the shooter, and that this person in no way shape or form represents the feelings of the Saudi people who love the American people."
"I think they're going to owe a debt here, given that this was one of their individuals."
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