At least one person was injured in a shooting at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi early Thursday morning before the shooter was “neutralized,” according to a U.S. Navy spokesman.
The Navy said that the security forces responded to an active shooter at around 6:15 a.m. Thursday. The base remains on lockdown and gates are closed.
#UPDATE The shooter has been neutralized. All gates on the installation remain closed while first responders process the scene. More information to follow. pic.twitter.com/uusEQ0JQH9
— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) May 21, 2020
NAS Corpus Christi houses four naval training squadrons, the Chief of Naval Air Training, and several aviation programs that train pilots from the Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, as well as foreign pilots, according to its website. Last year, security forces shot and killed a man who drove onto the base in a stolen vehicle, although there appears to be no ties to Thursday’s shooting.
In December, Naval Air Station Pensacola was attacked by a Saudi trainee who opened fire at the base, killing three people and injuring six before deputies killed him. The Navy subsequently suspended flight instruction for all Saudi students at the base pending the results of an investigation, and expelled Saudi students after the shooting. There are over 850 Saudi military students in the U.S.
On Monday, the FBI and Department of Justice said that investigators found links to a suspected al-Qaeda operative on the Pensacola shooter’s phone after successfully unlocking it.
“The FBI finally succeeded in unlocking Alshamrani’s phones. The phones contain information previously unknown to us that definitively establishes Alshamrani’s significant ties to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula — not only before the attack, but before he even arrived in the United States,” Attorney General Barr said during a Monday press conference.