Saudi aviation students grounded

The Navy has grounded Saudi military trainees at three bases in Florida in the wake of a deadly shooting Friday at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., by a member of the Saudi Royal Air Force. The suspension of flight training will affect about 300 Saudi students at NAS Pensacola, NAS Whiting Field near Milton and NAS Mayport in Jacksonville. Classroom instructions will continue, and other international students will resume flight training. The safety stand-down was issued pending results of an FBI investigation of the shooting that left three sailors dead and eight others, including two deputies, wounded. Investigators believe Saudi 2nd Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, 21, acted alone. He was fatally shot by a deputy. In addition, an Air Force spokeswoman told Reuters an undisclosed number of additional Saudi students have also stopped flying at other U.S. bases. There are 850 Saudi students in the U.S. for military training. (Source: New York Times, Reuters, 12/10/19) Previous