Suspect killed in US base shooting identified as Syrian

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The suspect killed at the scene of Thursday’s “terrorism-related” shooting at a US naval air base in Texas has been identified as 20-year-old Adam Aalim Alsahli, a Syrian-born US citizen, federal law enforcement officials said on Friday.

In the Thursday morning attack, the gunman opened fire at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, wounding one sailor, a member of the base security force, but the assailant was the only person killed, the FBI said.

The suspect’s name and age were confirmed to Reuters in an email from an FBI official, and tweeted by the agency. No further information about the suspect was immediately released.

A US law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said Alsahli was a native of Syria possessing US citizenship.

FBI agent Leah Greeves said on Thursday that the incident was being treated as “terrorism

related,” but official details about the circumstances of the attack remained scant.

The New York Times quoted a base spokeswoman as saying a man in a vehicle approached a gate to the installation and began firing at a guard, who was injured but managed to activate a “final denial barrier” that prevents entry. Base personnel returned fire, and the gunman was “neutralized,” the spokeswoman told the Times.

Greeves said on Thursday that authorities were searching for “a potential second related person of interest” who remained at large in the community. A law enforcement official said that as of Friday afternoon, authorities had no updated information to release about the possible second suspect.

The Justice Department said separately on Thursday that electronic media found at the scene was being analyzed as part of the investigation.