FBI finds link between Florida naval base gunman and al-Qaeda

The FBI has found a link between the gunman in a deadly attack at a military base last December and an al-Qaeda operative, a US official says.

Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Chris Wray were set to hold a news conference to announce developments in the shooting late last year at the Pensacola Naval Air Station, in which a Saudi Air Force officer killed three US sailors and injured eight other people.

The FBI declines to comment ahead of the news conference.

The contacts between the shooter, Mohammed Alshamrani, and the al-Qaeda operative were discovered on the shooter’s phone, according to the official, who wasn’t authorized to discuss the case by name and speaks on the condition of anonymity.

Alshamrani, who was killed by a sheriff’s deputy during the rampage at a classroom building, was undergoing flight training at Pensacola, where members of foreign militaries routinely receive instruction.

The Justice Department had previously asked Apple to help extract data from two iPhones that belonged to the gunman, including one that authorities say Alshamrani damaged with a bullet after being confronted by law enforcement. It was not immediately clear how the FBI and Justice Department were able to ultimately access the phone.

Law enforcement officials left no doubt that Alshamrani was motivated by jihadist ideology, saying he visited a New York City memorial to the attacks of September 11, 2001, over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and posted anti-American and anti-Israeli messages on social media just two hours before the shooting.

— AP