TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Editor's Note: The video in the player above is from when the sailors were posthumously awarded Purple Hearts in 2020.
December 6 marks the tragic day three sailors were killed in what the FBI has called a terrorist attack at Naval Air Station Pensacola — two years later, we still remember.
To honor and remember the lives of 19-year-old Naval Aircrewman 3rd Class Mohammed Haitham, 21-year-old Naval Aircrewman 3rd Class Cameron Walters and 23-year-old Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson, Gov. Ron DeSantis has ordered flags in Florida to be flown at half-staff.
The order will be in place from sunrise to sunset on Dec. 6 for all flags flown at state and local buildings.
"We continue to pray for the survivors, family and friends of those lost on that tragic day, and for our military members and families around the world who steadfastly stand watch over Florida and the United States of America," the governor's proclamation reads.
In addition to the three sailors killed, eight others were wounded in the 2019 attack by 21-year-old Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, an aviation student from Saudi Arabia, as he opened fire in a classroom before being fatally shot, according to the FBI.
Just more than a month after the attack the Department of Justice began treating the investigation as an act of terrorism. In 2020, Qassim al-Rimi, an al-Qaida leader who claimed responsibility for the attack, was killed during a counter-terrorism operation in Yemen.