ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — President Donald Trump says the U.S. has conducted a counter-terrorism operation in Yemen that killed Qassim al-Rimi, an al-Qaida leader.
Al-Rimi had claimed responsibility for last year's deadly shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola, where a Saudi aviation trainee killed three American sailors.
One of the people shot and killed was a 19-year-old Lakewood track and field star named Mohammed Haitham, who was described by those who knew him as smart, ambitious and charismatic. His mother, Evelyn Brady, told 10News Haitham tried to take down the shooter and died a hero.
The other two sailors who died were also described as heroes. Joshua Kaleb Watson, 23, was from Coffee, Alabama. Cameron Scott Walters, 21, was from Richmond Hill, Georgia.
RELATED: 'He's our hero': Community honors sailor killed in Pensacola shooting with fundraiser, procession
Twelve people were hurt in the attack, including the two sheriff’s deputies who were the first to respond. The attack came to an end when a sheriff’s deputy killed the shooter.
Al-Rimi is a founder of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. He claimed responsibility for orchestrating the attack. The affiliate has long been considered the global network’s most dangerous branch for its attempts to carry out attacks on the U.S. mainland.
President Trump says the U.S. and its allies are safer as a result of al-Rimi's death.
According to CBS News, Al-Rimi was born in 1974 in a village in Yemen's western Rima governorate. The network says he was involved in several operations, including a terrorist suicide attack on a French oil tanker in October 2002.
He rose through al-Qaida's ranks at a young age and eventually became one of the most wanted senior jihadists across the globe.
CBS News reports he was captured and sent to prison in 2004 but escaped two years later, along with nearly two dozen other al-Qaida detainees, who tunneled beyond the prison walls.
In the years that followed, he was involved in a car bombing that killed eight Spanish tourists and in the 2008 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa. His name was linked to failed plane bombings, CBS News adds. In May 2010, the State Department offered a $5 million bounty for tips leading to his capture or death.
What other people are reading right now:
- Florida Highway Patrol trooper shot and killed on I-95
- President Trump to give impeachment acquittal speech Thursday
- Did Speaker Nancy Pelosi break the law when ripping State of the Union speech?
- VERIFY: Fact-checking President Trump's third State of the Union address
- Florida severe weather outlook: Strong winds, a tornado possible
- Bright meteor caught on doorbell camera plummeting to Earth
- FBI joins search for missing Florida baby after triple murder
