Father: Navy victim shot standing watch fresh from boot camp
In this Nov. 22, 2019 photo provided by the Walters Family, Cameron Walters, center in Navy uniform, poses for a photo with his sisters, Lily Walters, left, and Shania Walters, right, and his father, Shane Walters, far right, the day he graduated from boot camp in Great Lakes, Ill. Cameron Walters, 21, of Richmond Hill, Georgia, was among three sailors killed at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida on Friday, Dec. 6. (Heather Walters/Courtesy of the Walters Family via AP)

AP Pensacola Shooting -- Walters Family
On Sunday afternoon, the caskets of the three fallen sailors were escorted aboard an aircraft, bound for Dover, Delaware.

Fresh out of boot camp, Cameron Walters proudly told his father in Georgia during their nightly video chat that he had passed the exam qualifying him to stand watch and help secure building entrances at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida.

When news broke the next morning of shots being fired on the base, Shane Walters called his son’s cellphone repeatedly throughout the day. There was no answer. The 21-year-old airmen apprentice from Richmond Hill had been killed along with two other sailors by a gunman authorities later identified as a military aviation student from Saudi Arabia.

Shane Walters told The Associated Press on Sunday that his son died standing watch at the classroom building where the shooter opened fire.

“He was just looking forward to getting his wings and being a part of flying and whatever job they gave him,” Shane Walters said. “He just wanted to earn his wings. He was looking so forward to having those wings pinned on his chest.”

The attack also killed 23-year-old Joshua Watson, a recent graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy from Enterprise, Alabama, and 19-year-old Airman Mohammed Sameh Haitham of St. Petersburg, Florida. Eight others were wounded.

On Sunday afternoon, the caskets of the three fallen sailors were escorted aboard an aircraft, bound for Dover, Delaware. A military mortuary is based there. Funeral plans were not immediately known.

“Friday’s senseless act of violence took these young men from us, physically wounded eight others and the hearts of countless more,” said Rear Admiral Gary A. Mayes, the Navy’s Southeast Region commander, during a Sunday news conference in Pensacola. “On behalf of the entire Navy, I extend my sincere and deepest sympathies to the families of the sailors whose lives were taken during this heinous act.”

Authorities said two sheriff’s deputies were wounded and eight others were hurt before a deputy killed the gunman, identified as 2nd Lt. Mohammed Alshamrani of the Royal Saudi Air Force.

Haitham’s stepmother, Brenda Delgado Haitham, said Sunday that the family was still trying to come to grips with the tragedy.

“I continue to speak about him in present tense because it still hasn’t sunk in that he’s no longer here,” she said in a statement to the AP.

Brenda Haitham said her stepson, whom she called “Mo,” had been a star high school athlete who ran track and played basketball.

Associated Press



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