The families of service members killed and injured by a Saudi Arabian officer who opened fire at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in 2019 are suing the Kingdom for economic damages such as medical expenses, funeral costs, lost income and other harm.
The Dec. 6, 2019, attack by the Royal Saudi Air Force pilot Mohammed Saeed Al-Shamrani killed three Navy service members; seriously injured four other service members, a Navy civil servant, seven sheriff’s deputies and a Department of Defense law enforcement officer; and caused injuries to numerous first-responders.
The lawsuit portrays Al-Shamrani as a Trojan horse who was sent to the United States by the Saudi government and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Al-Shamrani was stationed in Pensacola for flight training as a result of a program linked to billions of dollars in U.S. arms sales to the Saudis, according to the federal complaint filed in the Northern District of Florida on Feb. 22.
The attack at the base’s Building 633 was described in the lawsuit as an operation that was planned for months. Al-Shamrani wrote on social media on Sept. 11, 2019, that “the countdown has begun,” the complaint states.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia handpicked 2nd Lt. Al-Shamrani, it vetted him and it failed to supervise him,” Matthew Mokwa, one of the attorneys for the families, told the Florida Record in an email. “The Kingdom turned a blind eye to Al-Shamrani’s hatred for America and his radical beliefs.”
Typically, Americans cannot file civil lawsuits against foreign governments due to restrictions put in place by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. But Mokwa argues the circumstances surrounding the attack will allow the case to go forward.
“Congress enacted the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act in September of 2016 to prevent foreign governments from escaping responsibility for their role in terrorist attacks that kill or harm American citizens on United States soil,” he said. “The law expressly amended the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act to eliminate immunity for foreign governments that provide material support to terrorist organizations.”
U.S. officials have made public statements promising that the Saudi king would take care of the families of victims in the attack, and the lawsuit contends this amounts to an oral contract to aid the plaintiffs who brought the lawsuit.
“The victims have suffered unimaginable physical and emotional injuries and deserve to have their day in court,” Mokwa said.
Al-Shamrani was killed by a law enforcement officer during the rampage.