Gunman ‘lost his mind’
A United States Army veteran who complained that the government was controlling his mind drew a gun from his checked baggage on arrival at the Fort Lauderdale airport and opened fire in the baggage claim area yesterday, killing five people and wounding eight, authorities said.
He was taken into custody after throwing his empty weapon down and lying spreadeagled on the ground, one witness said.
The gunman was identified by authorities as Esteban Santiago, 26, who served in Iraq with the National Guard but was demoted and discharged last year for unsatisfactory performance. His brother said he had been receiving psychological treatment recently.
A law enforcement official said Santiago had walked into the FBI office in his home town of Anchorage, Alaska in November to say that the US government was controlling his mind and making him watch Islamic State videos.
Agents questioned him and called police, who took him away for a mental health evaluation, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Authorities said the motive for the attack was under investigation. ANCHORAGE POLICE
One witness said the attacker gunned down his victims without a word, and kept shooting until he ran out of ammunition for his handgun.
The shooting sent panicked travellers running out of the terminal and spilling on to the tarmac, baggage in hand. Others crouched behind cars or anything else they could find to shield themselves as police and paramedics rushed in to help the wounded and establish whether there were any other gunmen. The airport was shut down.
‘‘People started kind of screaming and trying to get out of any door they could or hide under the chairs,’’ a witness, Mark Lea, told MSNBC.
‘‘He just kind of continued coming in, just randomly shooting at people, no rhyme or reason to it.’’
It is legal for airline passengers in the US to travel with guns and ammunition, as long as the firearms are put in a checked bag, not a carry-on, and are unloaded and locked in a hard-sided container. Guns must be declared to the airline at check-in.
Santiago arrived in Fort Lauderdale after taking off from his home town of Anchorage, Alaska aboard a Delta flight, checking only one piece of luggage – his gun, said Jesse Davis, police chief at the Anchorage airport.
At Fort Lauderdale, ‘‘after he claimed his bag, he went into the bathroom and loaded the gun and started shooting. We don’t know why’’, said Chip LaMarca, a Broward County commissioner who was briefed by investigators.
Sheriff Scott Israel said five people were killed and eight were wounded. The condition of the wounded was not disclosed.
The gunman was arrested unharmed, with no shots fired by law enforcement officers, and was being questioned by the FBI, Israel said.
Santiago’s brother, Bryan, said his brother had been receiving psychological treatment in Alaska. He said Santiago’s girlfriend alerted the family to the situation in recent months.
He said Esteban Santiago was born in New Jersey and moved to Puerto Rico when he was 2. He was deployed to Iraq in 2010 and spent a year there with the 130th Engineer Battalion, according to Puerto Rico National Guard spokesman Major Paul Dahlen. He later joined the Alaska National Guard.
The Pentagon said Santiago went AWOL several times during his stint with the Alaska National Guard and was demoted – from specialist to private first class – and given a general discharge, which is lower than an honourable discharge.
‘‘Only thing I could tell you was when he came out of Iraq, he wasn’t feeling too good,’’ his uncle, Hernan Rivera, said.
Maria Ruiz said her nephew had recently become a father and was struggling.
‘‘It was like he lost his mind,’’ REUTERS she said of his return from Iraq. ‘‘He said he saw things.’’
Bryan Santiago said his brother never spoke to him directly about his medical issues.
‘‘We have not talked for the past three weeks. That’s a bit unusual.
‘‘I’m in shock. He was a serious person . . . He was a normal person.’’
Santiago was charged in a domestic violence case in January 2016, damaging a door when he forced his way into a bathroom at his girlfriend’s Anchorage home, yelled at her to leave, strangled her and smacked her on the side of the head, according to charging documents.
A month later, municipal prosecutors said he violated the conditions of his release when officers found him at the woman’s home during a routine check.
The bloodshed is likely to raise questions over whether aviation safety officials need to change the rules. The attack also exposed another weak point in US airport security. Many other sections of airports, such as ticket counters and baggage claim areas, are more lightly secured and more vulnerable to attack. AP