Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
The FBI has determined that an active shooter incident at a Texas naval base Thursday morning was related to terrorism.
"We have determined that the incident this morning at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi is terrorism-related," the FBI said at a press briefing Thursday afternoon, adding that while the shooter is deceased, "there may be a second person of interest at large in the community."
"The public should remain calm, and if you see something, say something," officials said.
Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas locked down Thursday morning in response to what was initially characterized as "an incident at one of the gates."
The base quickly posted a follow-up message warning that "NAS Corpus Christi is now in a lockdown status. There is an active shooter in the vicinity of the North Gate."
After the incident had been resolved, the US Navy sent out an email update staying that Navy Security Forces at the base responded to an active shooter at around 6:15 am (local time). The update said that the shooter had been "neutralized."
A follow-on update said that the "shooter no longer poses a threat" and announced that the lockdown had been lifted. One sailor attached to the NAS Corpus Christi security force sustained minor injuries but has already been released from the hospital.
The FBI has taken over the investigation but is working with local law enforcement and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). Officials have not released any information on the identity of the shooter or specified why they are investigating the incident as an act of terrorism.
Thursday's incident marks the third active-shooter situation at a US naval base in six months, following tragedies at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii and Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida.
In the case of NAS Pensacola, the shooter, who killed three people and injured several other people in the December 2019 attack, was a Saudi national with ties to al Qaeda.
Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, a second lieutenant in the Saudi military who was in the US as part of a training program, opened fire on the base with a handgun on Dec. 6. Before local law enforcement was able to stop him, he shot and killed three US Navy sailors in a rampage that shocked the service.
Evidence collected from his phone indicated that he had been radicalized years before coming to the US and had been in contact with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Following the December 2019 incident, the Department of Defense implemented measures designed to increase security at US military installations.
The Pentagon said in a statement earlier this week that it continues "to work with the FBI as they uncover more information pertaining to the terrorist, his links with al-Qa'ida, and the methods he used to conceal this from us."