UPDATE: FBI officials previously said they were searching for a potential second person of interest involved in the Naval Air Station shooting. On May 26, FBI Houston officials confirmed that is no longer the case.
UPDATE: The shooting that occurred last Thursday at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi remains an active investigation. While there was initial concern about a potential second person of interest, intense investigation leads us now to believe there was not. #CorpusNASshooting
— FBI Houston (@FBIHouston) May 26, 2020
A Thursday morning shooting at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi was terrorism-related, officials say, and the FBI has identified the suspect as 20-year-old Corpus Christi man Adam Salim Alsahli.
Police say Alsahli approached the north gate of the station around 6:15 a.m. and opened fire on officers standing at the entrance. Officers returned fire and Alsahli was reportedly killed during the shootout. One officer was injured at the scene.
Social media profiles on Facebook and Instagram, which appear to belong to the suspect, reference support for the Taliban and al-Qaida.
1) BREAKING (thread): Killed #CorpusChristi shooter's soc media supports killed AQAP official Ibrahim al-Rabaysh, Taliban & pro-AQ: “I love the Mujahidin, I’m not one of them and my sword is aimed over the necks of whoever doubts them (stabs them).” No signs of #ISIS support. pic.twitter.com/otpv7BK4kR
— Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) May 21, 2020
Thursday’s shooting in Corpus Christi comes just over five months after a Saudi flight student at Naval Air Station Pensacola shot and killed three sailors on that base. The FBI announced earlier this week that the Pensacola gunman was reportedly in contact with al-Qaida in the months leading up to the attack.
FBI Special Agent Leah Greeves said during a news conference Thursday that there may be a second suspect in the Corpus Christi shooting.
By 8:30 p.m. Thursday, police cordoned off the streets at Acushnet and Greensboro drives and appeared to be searching a home that a TPR public records search showed to be Alsahli’s last known address.
While police at the scene could not comment, they confirmed that the police presence on the streets was an FBI matter. The home is located about 20 minutes from where the shooting happened.
NAS Corpus Christi — which conducts pilot training for Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and foreign student pilots — has seen a number of threats in recent months. The base went into lockdown in two separate instances in October and December 2019. Both times there was believed to be a subject with a gun, but no shots were fired.
That same year in February, a man stole an SUV and crashed into a gate. He was later shot and killed by base security.
Jolene Almendarez can be reached at jolenealmendarez@gmail.com or on Twitter at @jalmendarez57.
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