FBI: No Second Suspect in Foiled Texas Naval Air Station Attack

ARLINGTON, Va. — Following “intense investigation,” the FBI says concerns that a second person may have assisted the gunman in the thwarted attack May 21 on Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, have been allayed.

One member of the Navy Security Force (NSF) was injured and the gunman was slain by other NSF personnel in the attempt to breach the North Gate of the naval base, which the FBI has said was “terrorism-related.”

See: Active Shooter Thwarted at NAS Corpus Christi

“While there was initial concern about a potential second person of interest, intense investigation leads us now to believe there was not,” the FBI’s Houston office, which is heading the investigation, said in a Twitter post on May 26, adding that the shooting “remains an active investigation.”

Officials identified the gunman as Adam Alsahli, 20, of Corpus Christi, a former student at a local community college. The FBI said Alsahli was a Syrian-born U.S. citizen, but have not explained why they are calling the attack terrorism-related.

The FBI is working with Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) agents as well as the Corpus Christi Police Department and personnel from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) headquarters in Washington. A sweep of the incident area found no explosives.

According to reports, the gunman tried to force his way onto the base while driving a pickup truck but was stopped at a checkpoint by an NSF member. The gunman began shooting, striking the Sailor, who was wearing an armored vest. The Sailor was able to hit a switch that raised a barrier blocking vehicle access. The gunman was shot and killed by other guards.

The wounded NSF member, who was not identified, was treated for minor injuries and released from the hospital, the Navy said. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said May 22 on NBC’s “Today Show” that she was “doing well.” The attack sparked a bizarre hoax on social media that purported to show a photo of the NSF member who was shot with details of the incident that officials have not confirmed. The photo of a female officer and her military working dog is of another Sailor, not the one involved in the shooting incident, the Navy said.

The Corpus Christi attack took place six months after a Saudi gunman killed three Sailors and wounded eight others at NAS Pensacola, Florida, and just three days after the FBI and Justice Department said information gleaned from the gunman’s iPhone linked him to an al-Qaida affiliate.

“I am very concerned about both cases,” Esper said on the “Today Show,” although he did not say they were linked. “We’re looking at additional measures we will take to ensure that foreign-inspired terrorists don’t have access to our posts, bases, installations and, of course, our country,” he added.

Esper also noted that the Corpus Christi shooter had no military affiliation, while the Pensacola gunman was a Saudi Air Force lieutenant training at the American flight school.