Two killed in US navy base attack

A shooter was killed yesterday after opening fire at a US naval base in Florida and killing at least two people, police and military officials said.

Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said in a message on Twitter it could “confirm there is no longer an active shooter on NAS Pensacola. The shooter is confirmed dead.”

Naval Air Station Pensacola was put on lockdown, with the US Navy on Twitter reporting “one additional fatality.” In a later tweet, it said “a second victim has been confirmed deceased.”

The Pensacola News Journal said two people suffered critical injuries and a third non-critical wounds.

White House press secretary Judd Deere said President Donald Trump “has been briefed on the shooting at Pensacola Naval Air Station... and is monitoring the situation.”

The naval air station hosts 16,000 military personnel and more than 7,000 civilians, and is home to a flight demonstration squadron. It is an early training center for naval pilots, and is known as the “cradle of Naval aviation.”

Though relatively rare, military facilities have not been left untouched by the United States’ epidemic of mass shootings.

On Wednesday, a US sailor fatally shot two people and wounded a third at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii before taking his own life.