William Barr: Mass shooting by Saudi national was an act of terrorism

Attorney General William Barr announced Monday that the December mass shooting by a Saudi national that left three American sailors dead in Pensacola, Florida, was an act of terrorism.

Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, a second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force, allegedly shot and killed three U.S. Navy sailors — Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson, 23, Airman Mohammed Haitham, 19, and Airman Apprentice Cameron Walters, 21 — and wounded at least eight others at the Naval Air Station Pensacola. Haitham and Walters received posthumous promotions, and acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly praised them for displaying “the finest warrior ethos and quick decision-making that undoubtedly saved many lives.”

Alshamrani was shot and killed by responding deputies from the Escambia County Sheriff's Office. The FBI had quickly announced its investigation was treating the mass shooting as a possible act of terrorism.

Barr said that “the evidence shows that the shooter was motivated by jihadist ideology.”

On Sept. 11, the Saudi national posted on social media that “the countdown has begun,” and over his Thanksgiving break, he visited the 9/11 memorial in New York City.