Joshua Kaleb Watson Wiki
Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy this year, was among the victims slain on Friday by Mohammed al-Shamrani, a Saudi Arabian aviator being trained in the U.S.
Joshua Kaleb Watson Age
He was 23 years old.
Joshua Kaleb Watson killed by A Saudi Gunman
One of the three victims killed by a Saudi gunman at Naval Air Station Pensacola has been identified.
In a heartbreaking tribute on Facebook, Watson’s brother wrote that “he saved countless lives today with his own.” ‘After he was shot several times, he came out and told the first response team where the shooter was and those details were invaluable. He died as a hero, ‘wrote brother Adam Watson. The assault, which is being investigated as related to terror, ended when a sheriff’s assistant killed the gunman.
Twelve people were injured in the attack, including the two sheriff’s agents who were the first to respond, said Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan. He said one of the agents was shot in the arm and the other in the knee, and both were expected to recover.
Saudis Rush To Try To Ease US Tensions After The Attack
The shooting threatened to further strain US relations with Saudi Arabia, as it seeks to repair its image of being a world exporter of Islamic extremism. Perhaps most notoriously, 15 of the 19 kidnappers on September 11 were Saudi citizens. A lawsuit from the families of the victims alleges that the Saudi government also played a role in planning the attacks, which the kingdom denies.
On Saturday, Saudi Arabia tried to distance itself from the Pensacola gunman after King Salman telephoned President Donald Trump to denounce the shooting as ‘heinous’ and promised cooperation with US officials to investigate the incident. The king added in the phone call on Friday that the shooter, who was shot dead by police, “does not represent the Saudi people.” Trump tweeted about the call, saying: “ The King said that the Saudi people are very angry at the barbarian actions of the shooter, and that this person in no way represents the feelings of the Saudis who love the American people. ‘ Trump chaired in 2017 one of the largest arms transactions in history, when he agreed that the United States sell Saudi weapons systems for a total of US $ 110 billion immediately, [1] [2] and $ 350 billion in 10 years. The shooter’s family echoed the feeling that their actions did not represent the subjects of the kingdom. The official Okaz newspaper quoted one of his uncles, Saad al-Shamrani, saying that his actions do not reflect the ‘humanity and loyalty of his family’ to the leadership of the kingdom.
Seeking to play up their ties to America after the attack, many Saudis on social media highlighted U.S. media reports about two exchange students from Saudi Arabia who drowned last year in Massachusetts after rushing into a river to rescue two small children.
But Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suggested Riyadh should offer compensation to the victims.
‘The government of Saudi Arabia needs to make things better for these victims, and I think they’re going to owe a debt here given that this is one of their individuals,’ DeSantis said.
Who is Killer, Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani?
Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani was a Saudi aviator training at the U.S. naval station
The shooter Alshamrani was a second lieutenant attending the aviation school at the station. The Pentagon said his training with the US military began in August 2016 and was due to finish in August 2020.
On Friday night, the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist media, said it had tracked a Twitter account belonging to Alshamrani that presented a disturbing manifesto written a few hours before the shooting. “I am against evil, and the United States as a whole has become a nation of evil,” he said. “I am not against you for being Americans, I do not hate you for your freedoms, I hate you because every day you support, fund and commit crimes not only against Muslims but also against humanity,” Alshamrani wrote. Investigators were working to determine if the tweet was written by the shooter.
Investigation
Meanwhile, six other Saudi citizens were arrested near the station shortly after the attack, when investigators began investigating a terrorist link. Three of the six were seen filming the entire incident as it developed, a source told the New York Times. No official has yet declared whether any of them were students in the classroom where the shooting occurred. Military personnel from all over the world receive training at the Pensacola Naval Air Station, which is the base of operations for the revered Navy Blue Angels air demonstration team. Saudi Arabia, a major US arms buyer UU., Send thousands of soldiers a year to train in the United States. For fiscal year 2019, the State Department planned to train approximately 3,150 Saudis in the U.S. UU. At a cost of more than $ 100 million.
