[UPDATE 05/13/06: Andrew Mitchell, the US Embassy spokesman in Riyadh, doesn't have a lot more information than what's in the article. The question of the motivation of the shooter. With the shooter in custody--though the extent of his injuries aren't known--the Saudi security authorities will be trying to ascertain that. They're pretty forthcoming these days, so perhaps later today there'll be an official statement.]

Deadend for U.S. Consulate Shooter
By Ahmed I.B. Naser, Arjuwan Lakkdawala and Adel Al-Malki

…On Friday afternoon, at around 5:00 pm, shots were heard in the area, according to eyewitnesses. Police cordoned off access to the area behind the Ministry of Interior offices, and Ministry of Rural Affairs on Madinah Road and the area leading up the American consulate, scene of a bloody attack in December 2004, when a group of armed gunmen managed to storm the consulate and kill a number of contracted consulate employees.

Traffic slowed down on the Tahlia Street-Madinah Road overpass.

At around 6:00 pm, security eased off, as Emergency Forces troopers moved in to comb the area.

One security officer at the scene told The Saudi Gazette, an officer had been injured during the clash and had been transferred to the King Fahd Hospital, close to the Saudi Aramco offices. The suspect, who had surrendered after a senior security forces officer injured him in the leg, was transferred to the same hospital, the officer said.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Interior through the Saudi Press Agency said shots were fired from a car at security troopers stationed near the American consulate. The statement said a suspect had been apprehended after a chase, where the suspect was forced to abandon his car and tried to hideout in a nearby building. The statement said no security officers were injured during the attack.

“There were a number of shots fired at consulate compound,” Andrew Mitchell, a spokesman for the American Embassy told The Saudi Gazette.

“Saudi security forces responded,” he added. No consulate officials or employees were injured, according to Mitchell.

It was not immediately clear if the suspect was linked to groups sympathetic to Al-Qaeda or if the attack was politically motivated.

The Saudi Gazette is reporting another attack on the US Consulate in Jeddah. The article is very unclear on certain points. It appears at present to have been an individual who fired shots from a handgun at Saudi security forces outside the Consulate perimeter.

That the attack took place on a Friday–the Saudi equivalent to Sunday in the West–suggests that this wasn’t a very well-planned attack, either, as the Consulate would have been closed anyway. It seems to be an individual either with his own grudge or inspired by something he read or saw on TV.

I’ll be checking to see if I can get any further details, but with the time difference involved, now 9 hours, there probably won’t be much before Saturday.