Florida shooting: Four dead after gunman opens fire at US Navy base in Pensacola

At least four people are dead and several others are injured after a shooter opened fire at a US Navy base.

It has been reported that the person suspected to be the shooter was thought to be a Saudi national in the USA for military training.

The assailant was shot dead by police following the gun attack at Florida's Naval Air Station Pensacola (NASP), which saw three others killed and around ten people rushed to hospital.

Reports of an "active shooter" sent the military base into lockdown on Friday morning, as emergency services rushed to the scene.

The shooting began just before 7am local time, the local sheriff's office confirmed.

By 8am, the suspect was dead.

A sheriff's deputy fatally shot the attacker in a classroom on the base, Sheriff David Morgan said at a news conference on Friday morning.

He declined to share any details about the suspected shooter's identity, but said: "Walking through the crime scene was like being on the set of a movie."

Two law enforcement officials, who were not authorised to speak on the record about the investigation, told Reuters the suspected shooter was on the base for training but said they could provide no additional information.

Saudi Arabia's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to questions.

Two police officers were injured, one shot in the arm, the other in the knee, but both were expected to survive, officials confirmed.

“We do have several deceased and several wounded,” Commanding Officer Captain Tim Kinsella at NAS Pensacola said.

Eight people are being treated at the nearby Baptist Hospital, with others reportedly rushed to Pensacola's Sacred Heart centre.

President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting and is monitoring the situation, the White House said.

NASP confirmed the base would be closed for the rest of the day, adding: "Only essential personnel will be allowed onto the base. Additional information to follow."

It is the second shooting at a US military facility in the past week.

On Wednesday, a sailor shot three civilians at the historic Pearl Harbor military base in Hawaii, killing two of them before taking his own life.

The Pensacola base, which is near Florida's border with Alabama, is a major training site for the Navy and home to its aerobatic flight demonstration squadron the Blue Angels.

The base employs more than about 16,000 military and 7,400 civilian personnel, according to the base's website.