The gunman in the Pearl Harbor shooting has been identified as 22-year-old Gabriel Romero. Romero, who was assigned to the USS Columbia, allegedly killed two civilian technicians and wounded a third before slaying himself at Pearl Harbor Dry Dock 2 on Wednesday, according to a preliminary incident report obtained by Fox News.
Romero, a petty officer and active-duty sailor assigned to the USS Columbia, used his M4 service rifle and shot three males before taking his own life by using his M9 service pistol. The killings cast a dark shadow over the 78th. commemoration of the Pearl Harbor attacks, which is just days away.
The Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam released a message to Twitter, saying the assault is still under investigation.
“JBPHH security forces have responded to a reported shooting at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. The incident occurred at approximately 2:30 p.m. Due to the ongoing security incident, access/gates to #JBPHH are closed. We will update when we have further information.”
JBPHH security forces have responded to a reported shooting at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. The incident occurred at approximately 2:30 p.m. Due to the ongoing security incident, access/gates to #JBPHH are closed. We will update when we have further information. pic.twitter.com/6uZulGOUTx
— Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (@JointBasePHH) December 5, 2019
The identity of the three victims has not been made public yet as next of kin need to be informed first. It is not clear whether there was any relationship between Romero and the victims and whether it was a targeted or a random attack.
In a press conference yesterday, Rear Admiral Robert B. Chadwick, Commander of Navy Region Hawaii, said that two of the victims were killed in the attack in addition to the shooter, while the third victim, a 36-year-old male was in stable condition in hospital.
“I can report that joint base security personnel did respond to a report of an active shooter today in the vicinity of Dry Dock 2, in the Naval shipyard,” he told reporters. “I can confirm that there were three shooting victims. We have confirmed that two are deceased, and one is in a stable condition in a local hospital.”
It is not known what, if any, relationship the shooter had with the victims, and whether it was a random or targeted attack at Dry Dock 2, a maintenance area for nuclear submarines.
According to the official Twitter page of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Romero opened fire on Department of Defense civilian workers around 2:30 p.m. HST (7:30 p.m. ET).
Epoch Times reporter Katabella Roberts and Associated Press contributed to this report.
