Gunman kills American, injures another in Riyadh

An unidentified gunman has shot and killed an American citizen and injured another in the Saudi Arabian capital city of Riyadh.

The deadly attack took place on Tuesday after the unknown assailant opened fire on the car carrying the Americans at a gas station in the eastern part of the capital, a Riyadh police spokesman said.

The kingdom’s security forces exchanged fire with the gunman and managed to arrest him after he was wounded, he added.

The attacker is a Saudi national in his 20s, who was born in US, said Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Mansour Turki.

The attacker’s motive is not yet clear and an official investigation has been launched into the gun attack, Turki stated.

The last fatal attack on Western nationals in Saudi Arabia goes back to 2007 when three French citizens were killed in the northwest of the Arab country.

Saudi Arabia is one of the closest allies of the United States in the Middle East region.