WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Navy says flight training has been suspended for about 175 Saudi Arabian students at three bases in Florida in the wake of the deadly shooting by a Saudi Air Force officer on Friday.
Navy Commander Clay Doss says classroom training is going on, and flight training for other students will resume. He says it’s not clear how long the flight stand-down for the Saudi students will continue.
A Saudi student shot and killed three military members and injured eight others at a Pensacola naval base.
The FBI identified the gunman as Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, age 21. He was a second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force and was in a training program at Naval Air Station Pensacola.
The students were identified on Saturday evening as U.S. Navy aviation students Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson, 23, of Coffee, Alabama; Airman Mohammed Sameh Haitham, 19, of St. Petersburg, Florida; and Airmen Apprentice Cameron Scott Walters, 21, of Richmond Hill, Georgia.
NSJ Staff contributed to this article.
