SIMI VALLEY, California: US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said yesterday that he was not prepared at this point to label as “terrorism” the attack a day earlier at a US Navy base in Florida, where a Saudi airman is accused of killing three people.
“No, I can’t say it’s terrorism at this time,” Esper told the Reagan National Defence Forum in California, adding he believed investigators needed to be allowed to do their work.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman had called US President Donald Trump to extend his condolences and pledge his kingdom’s support in the investigation.
A group that monitors online extremism says the suspect appeared to have posted criticism of US wars and quoted slain Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on social media hours before the shooting spree.
Federal investigators have not disclosed any motive behind the attack, which unfolded at dawn on Friday when the Saudi national is said to have begun firing a handgun inside a classroom at the Naval Air Station Pensacola.
A vigil was held yesterday for those wounded and killed, among them a recent Naval Academy graduate who dreamed of being a fighter pilot, according to the victim’s family.