Pensacola Jihadi who opened fire at Naval Air Station had ties to al-Qaeda dating back to 2015, FBI says

The FBI has determined Alshamrani spent years preparing for the attack on NAS Pensacola and that he communicated with members of the al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, who encouraged the attacks.

Federal investigators have determined the gunman who carried out a deadly shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola last year was in contact with al-Qaeda prior to the attack.

Saudi Air Force 2nd Lt. Mohammed Alshamrani, a Saudi-born aviation student enrolled in the international military training program, opened fire in a Navy educational facility the morning of Dec. 6, 2019. The gunman killed three people and wounded eight others before he was shot and killed by responding law enforcemennt.

There are no lone wolves in the global jihad. Each and every soldier fights in the cause of Allah.

1) BREAKING: #AQAP releases video claiming responsibility for December’s shooting at Naval Air Station #Pensacola, Florida, providing the will of attacker Muhammad al-Shamrani, which was written in September 2019, three months prior to attack. pic.twitter.com/pVbGO2HUvF

— Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) February 2, 2020

Related:

• WATCH Imam Friday Sermon: Muslim terrorist who killed killed 3 American service members at Pensacola Naval Air Station is actually a righteous jihadist “overcome with compassion for the Islamic nation”
• After NAS Pensacola shooting, Navy suspends flight training for nearly 300 Saudi students, official says</a
• Uncle of Pensacola jihad murderer: “He had his religion, his prayer”
• TEN More Jihadis Arrested in Pensacola US Naval Base Islamic Terror Attack, 3 DEAD, 8 WOUNDED
• Jihadi who killed three at Pensacola naval station ‘hosted dinner party with three fellow Muslim countrymen to watch videos of mass shootings’ days before the attack
• Pensacola Naval Base: Muslim terrorist quotes Bin Laden in justifying slaughter, said US was committing “crimes against Muslims,” including support of Jewish State
• 6 More SAUDI JIHADIS Arrested Over Pensacola Naval Base SHOOTING INCLUDING 3 WHO FILMED THE ATTACK
• TERROR in Pensacola: Muslim gunman opened fire on Naval Air Station; Several dead, multiple injured

Saudi pilot who killed US Navy sailors on FL base was Al Qaeda terrorist and spent years planning

Mohammed Alshamrani, the Saudi gunman who opened fire on Dec. 6, 2019 inside a classroom at Naval Air Station Pensacola on before one of the deputies killed him. (FBI/Released) | The main gate at Naval Air Station Pensacola on Navy Boulevard in Pensacola, Fla. (U.S. Navy photo by Patrick Nichols)

May 18, 2020 Laura Widener

The Royal Saudi Air Force member behind the December 2019 shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola had “significant ties” to the terror group Al Qaeda for years before conducting the deadly attack that killed three victims and injured eight others.

During a Monday morning press conference, Attorney General Bill Barr said Mohammed Alshamrani’s phones “contained information previously unknown to us that definitively establishes Alshamrani’s significant ties to Al Qaeda and the Arabian Peninsula not only before the attack, but before he even arrived in the United States.”

Alshamrani’s two iPhones were recently unlocked by federal technicians after months of attempts and refusals from Apple to assist in the process. Barr said that the recently obtained information from Alshamrani’s phones has led to counterterrorism operations against one of Alshamrani’s overseas associates in Yemen, and revealed significant information about the terrorist himself.
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FBI Director Christopher Wray said the Navy base attack was a “brutal culmination of years of planning and preparation.”

“We now know enough to see Alshamrani for what he was — a determined AQAP [Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula] terrorist who spent years preparing to attack us.”
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Wray said the investigators uncovered evidence showing Alshamrani had been radicalized as far back as 2015 – long before he began training in the U.S. – and had maintained contact with terrorist operatives ever since.

“Alshamrani described a desire to learn about flying years ago around the same time he talked about attending the Saudi Air Force academy to carry out what he called a ‘special operation.’ He then pressed his plan forward, joining the Air Force and bringing his plot here to America.”

“We now know that Alshamrani continued to associate with AQAP even while living in Texas and in Florida, and in the months before the attack while he was here among us, he talked with AQAP about his plans and tactics, taking advantage of the information he acquired here to assess how many people he could try to kill.”

Part of Alshamrani’s thorough planning included casing out the Navy base’s classroom building, making videos inside the building, and wrote out a will on his cell phone that described his motives for the attack. That same will was released by Al Qaeda after the attack when they publicly claimed responsibility.

“He wasn’t just coordinating with them about planning and tactics, he was helping the organization make the most it could out of his murders, and he continued to confer with his AQAP associates right up until the end — the very night before he started shooting.”

Barr had concluded in January that the attack “was an act of terrorism” and Alshamrani was “motivated by jihadist ideology.”

Investigators previously revealed that Alshamrani posted a message to his social media account on Sept. 11, 2019 that said, “the countdown has begun.” He had also posted other “anti-American, anti-Israeli, and jihadi messages on social media, and did so two hours before his attack at the naval base.”

Alshamrani had used a Glock 9mm handgun in the attack, which he was not authorized to possess on base.

“Weapons are not authorized on base. You cannot bring a weapon on base unless you’re a member of the security forces,” NAS Pensacola commanding officer Capt. Timothy F. Kinsella Jr. had said after the attack.

Alshamrani had used a loophole in the U.S. gun laws that permitted foreign nationals to legally purchase a gun if they possessed a hunting license, among a few other possible criteria. Alshamrnai had indeed obtained a hunting license on July 11, 2019, and purchased his handgun just days later, the Wall Street Journal reported in December.

Hundreds of foreign military personnel from all over the world routinely attended NAS Pensacola for training. However, after the attack, the Pentagon changed its policy to temporarily ban and expel all Saudi pilots during the course of the investigation. A month and a half after the attack in late January, the Pentagon gave the okay for Saudi pilots to resume training in the U.S.

After the press conference on Monday, Secretary of Defense Mark. Esper issued a statement saying vowing additional measures in response to the attack.

“The Department of Defense is incredibly grateful for the diligent work by the FBI team investigating this horrific attack that took the lives of three American patriots. Based on the FBI findings, and in addition to already executed protective measures, the Department will take further prudent and effective measures to safeguard our people,” Esper said.

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felix1999

3 years ago

Clearly he wasn’t vetted very well. He was over here to be trained on how to use the military equipment bought by Saudi Arabia from us. Saudi Arabia is close to Israel and both fear the jihadis. So they work together right now.

Trump wants out of the middle east and have THEM fight each other. That is what is happening too! 🙂 Let them kill each other. Maybe training for these inbreeds needs to beheld in THEIR country.

Americans will be expelled from Iraq and Syria – Iran’s Supreme Leader
Reuters
5/17/20
…
Americans will be expelled from Iraq and Syria, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday, renewing Iran’s demand for U.S. troops to be withdrawn from the Middle East.
…
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/americans-will-be-expelled-from-iraq-and-syria-irans-supreme-leader-628376

That’s fine with me! Let another campaign promise be completely kept!

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Canadian Bacon

3 years ago

Reply to  felix1999

yup, the fact they found this all out after tells me, they probably knew and did nothing about it

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tituspullo

3 years ago

the fed bureau of islam didn’t think to investigate and monitor this muslim guy before he was given a loaded gun on american soil? $100 says they did exactly what the muslim president told them to do, which was let this guy to blow away as many white soldiers on US soil as possible

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felix1999

3 years ago

Reply to  tituspullo

People around him knew he was a problem with his apartment jihdi meeting but were afraid ot speak up because of Obama’s strict Muslim political correctness, Obama was President then.

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spfoam1

3 years ago

If we peel back the layers of this onion we end up at Mohammed. The names of the “terror” groups are like names of companies within the same army. Islam is a civilization of conquest that uses terror as Mohammed used terror, and as commanded by Allah.

The Saudis are the most well funded Mohammedans on the planet. They got the key to the oil beneath their feet from the west. We should have taken their oil so a known mortal enemy didn’t enjoy the biggest cash cow in history. We didn’t do that because the tyrants, who were in control of our currency and oil, and who intended to rob us and use us as a mass murderer and then murder us, needed a relentless and savage proxy army and patsy in the future.

Our worst enemy keeps pointing at the same foreign enemies they enriched and enabled with our money. They set us up for one fight after another, at our expense and to their benefit.

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Rob Porter

3 years ago

Reply to  spfoam1

Please, do not refer to Islam as a “civilization”, it is a barbaric ideology that has destroyed civilizations and there is no ‘civility’ or enlightenment in the violent actions it promotes.

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Bob Smith

3 years ago

After all the other attacks this is our fault not his.

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Peace lover

3 years ago

Reply to  Bob Smith

Why can’t it be both? Don’t let him off the hook

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Achmed Mohandjob

3 years ago

“The Department of Defense is incredibly grateful for the diligent work by the FBI team… ”

Hayull of a job, fbi …. You really saved some lives, this time. Oh, they didn’t?

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Anthony Silvio

3 years ago

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WolfNippleChips

3 years ago

Time to sever out military relationships with service members of Islamic nations.

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AlgorithmicAnalyst

3 years ago

Another psychotic muslim terrorist. Best to keep them out of the country. Like you keep spiders and snakes and scorpions outside of your house. Even though you can’t kill all the bad guys in the world, at least you can keep them out of your house 🙂

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Drew the Infidel

3 years ago

It is better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it.

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AZ gal

3 years ago

This jihadi had the nickname
of “Porn stash” which he hated. He should only be called that. Ugly POS.
Has our govt/military learned anything from this fiasco? I think not

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Thistle

3 years ago

Is there a reason why these animals are allowed in our country? They should all be deported immediately.

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iprazhm

3 years ago

Homeland Security and the Constitution shredding, ever expanding Patriot Act were always meant to spy on and attack U.S. citizens, rather than our Government’s implanted Jihadis. A tool to subjugate Americans. Just as I imagine the new Space Force will be.

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durabo

3 years ago

I hope Apple’s sales go down the tube in the future, since their management refused to assist law enforcement investigators in a matter of vital national security. Patriots: shop selectively.

ACK FUPPLE!!!

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gfmucci .

3 years ago

And yet we still train dozens of Saudi scum on US soil. Why is that

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Roma Mikhasev

3 years ago

Anyone surprised?!

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cylde

3 years ago

There is no reason to conduct training in the USA. Not allowing them guns is not an effective measure for a suicidal jihadi. If allowed to fly they can deliberately crash the plane into an apartment tower. The only thing they can learn in the USA that they can not learn in their home country is how to live inn peace with their neighbors.

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pfwag

3 years ago

Any and every Muslim that doesn’t publicly repudiate the Quran and Muhammad is a terrorist.

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pfwag

3 years ago

Any and every Muslim that doesn’t publicly repudiate the Quran and Muhammad is a terrorist.

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