A Richmond Hill man was one of three sailors who died during an active shooter incident at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Dec. 6, according to the United States Navy.

Airman Apprentice Cameron Scott Walters was from Richmond Hill and a student at Naval Aviation Schools Command, 21.

The other two men were identified as Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson, student, Naval Aviation Schools Command, 23, from Coffee, Alabama and Airman Mohammed Sameh Haitham, student, Naval Aviation Schools Command, 19, from St. Petersburg, Florida

“The sorrow from the tragic event on NAS Pensacola will have a lasting impact on our installation and community,” said Capt. Tim Kinsella, commanding officer, NAS Pensacola. “We feel the loss profoundly and grieve with the family and friends of the deceased.  The Sailors that lost their lives in the line of duty and showed exceptional heroism and bravery in the face of evil.  When confronted, they didn’t run from danger; they ran towards it and saved lives.  If not for their actions, and the actions of the Naval Security Force that were the first responders on the scene, this incident could have been far worse.”

Bryce Matthews was a close friend of Cameron Walters and said he is devastated by the news of his friend’s death.

“All of us are just kinda hurt and in disbelief, but I know Cameron would want us to all have a smile on our face,” Matthews wrote. “He could always bring a good mood when you were down and had a smile and laugh that were just contagious, he was the person you could count on and had a true heart of gold.”

When Matthews learned of Walters death he said, “I just broke down, I honestly thought it was some kind of sick joke, I didn’t want to believe it, it was the worst thing I woke up to yesterday morning.”

Matthews said he met Walters in April 2018 and Walters made an immediate impact in his life.

“It was like I’d known him my whole life,” Matthews said, “I met Cameron through a girl I knew, I went to go hang out with her, and Cameron was dating the girl’s best friend. The second we met we hit it off as friends."

When asked the one thing he fondly recalled with his time with Walters he said, “There’s a lot I could say here, but one memory that never fails to bring a smile to my face is this one time we sat outside of a Parker’s gas station and both agreed to spend $50 on lottery tickets, and if we won over $500 we would go to Key West, so we got to scratching tickets and won $375, and after we went to cash in the lady realized she didn’t have enough in the drawer so instead we just got like $125 worth of beef jerky and other random items, which at the time was kind of irritating but looking back it’s a funny memory I have with him.”

Matthews recalls Walters left for military training towards the end of September and said, “I think he was excited to be doing something bigger than himself, and I talked to him when he finished boot camp and he was telling me how excited he was to be coming home at the end of December.”

According to Matthews, Walters did not attend school in Richmond Hill, but thinks instead graduated from South Effingham High School and later moved to Richmond Hill with his parents.