Early Morning Naval Base Shooting In Texas “Terrorism-Related”; FBI Hunting 2nd Suspect

Early this morning an as yet unknown attacker stormed the gate at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas. Local reports said the suspect was quickly “neutralized” after wounding one security officer. 

The FBI announced later in the day Thursday the attack was “terrorism-related” and that the shooter is dead; but crucially an official FBI statement said they are still pursuing another “person of interest” believed to be at large. No details have yet been given as to the deceased attacker’s identity.

The Navy Security Forces officer that was shot in the attack is expected to survive. The incident placed the whole base on lockdown with an emergency shelter-in-place order for military and civilian personnel in and around the base.

“We have determined that the incident this morning at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi is terrorism related,” FBI Senior Supervisory Special Agent Leah Greeves said.

“We may have a potential second related person of interest at large in the community,” she added, without offering additional details.  

The attack happened at about 6:15am and quickly grabbed international headlines, but initially appeared a brief and possibly minor incident, with few details given.

“If you are in or near the North Gate get out and away to safety,” a NAS Corpus Christi Facebook post read early Thursday. “Execute lockdown procedures — remain indoors and away from windows.”

One military news report cited a US official soon after the incident to say it was an “Arab male” shooter who “stormed a gate at the base.”

Though unconfirmed by the FBI, the report in US Naval Institute News said:

Earlier on Thursday, a U.S. official confirmed to USNI News the authorities believed a Navy security team killed an “Arab male” in a gun battle gate at the base.

The official did not have any additional details on the identity of the shooter beyond apparent ethnicity. An FBI spokeswoman did not provide additional details when contacted by USNI News earlier on Thursday.

An anonymous US official reportedly  USNI cited news the shooter was though those details have not been officially confirmed.

It could mark the first significant foreign terror attack on US soil since most of the nation went into broad state-ordered lockdowns as a result of the coronavirus pandemic two months ago.

This latest attack comes just days after on Monday Attorney General William Barr announced that last year’s Dec. 6th Pensacola naval base shooter, Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani – who it turns out was a Saudi pilot in the US as part of a joint training program – had been in direct contact with al-Qaeda.