Local security guard killed in shooting outside U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, State Dept. says

A shooting outside the U.S. Consulate General in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, left a local security guard dead, a State Department spokesperson said Wednesday. The assailant was killed by Saudi security forces. 

“The Consulate was appropriately locked down and no Americans were harmed in the attack. Accountability of all official American and locally employed staff has been achieved,” the spokesperson said. The incident remains under investigation.

A spokesperson for the Makkah Al-Mukarramah Police said that the assailant stopped his car near the port city’s American consulate on Wednesday evening, the Saudi Press Agency reported. He got out carrying a firearm, and there was an exchange of gunfire with the consulate’s security authorities. A Nepalese security guard employed by the consulate and the assailant were killed in the exchange, the police spokesman said.

“We offer our sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased local guard member,” the State Department spokesperson said.