Group: Naval base shooter backed clerics
Social media accounts show support for jihadi figures, mostly from Saudi Arabia
The suspect killed during what the FBI is calling a “terrorism-related” attack at a Texas naval air base voiced support for hardline clerics, according to a group that monitors online activity of jihadists.
The attack Thursday at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi wounded a sailor and left the gunman dead. The gunman was identified Friday by the FBI as 20-year-old Adam Salim Alsahli of Corpus Christi. He had been a business major at a local community college.
The gunman tried to speed through a security gate at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, opening fire and wounding the sailor, a member of base security, U.S. officials told the AP. But she was able to roll over and hit a switch that raised a barrier, preventing the man from getting onto the base, the officials said.
Other security personnel shot and killed the attacker.
There was an initial concern that the gunman may have had an explosive device, but Navy experts swept the area and the car, and found nothing. Officials worked late Thursday to process the crime scene and had recovered some type of electronic media.
The FBI is examining social media posts investigators believe were made by the shooter expressing support for extremist groups, including Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, two officials familiar with the investigation said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Friday on “The Today Show” that the wounded sailor is “doing well.” He also said the FBI knows the basics of what happened during the attack, but is working through details, including about the suspect.
“We hope to know more in the coming days as to what happened, what this person was motivated by,” Esper said. “But we need to let the facts come out, let the investigators do their job, and we’ll see where this ends up.”
Social media accounts matching Alsahli’s profile on Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp featured support for hardline clerics, mostly from Saudi Arabia, and such jihadi figures as Ibrahim al-Rabaysh, who had been a spokesman for the Yemen branch of Al Qaeda and was killed by a U.S. drone strike in 2015, according to Rita Katz, director of the SITE Intelligence Group.
Alsahli had been a student at Del Mar College, a community college in Corpus Christi, according to a statement on Friday from school spokeswoman Melinda Eddleman. He had been a business administration major, and had attended classes in the fall 2018, spring 2019 and fall 2019 semesters.
A search of court records in Corpus Christi showed Alsahli had received a traffic ticket in August for failing to yield. The ticket was dismissed in January after Alsahli took a driver’s safety course.
FBI Supervisory Senior Resident Agent Leah Greeves said at a news conference Thursday that investigators were working to determine whether a second person of interest was at large, but did not elaborate. She also would not discuss a potential motive or specify what led investigators to believe the shooting was related to terrorism.