Airport shooting suspect could face death penalty
Esteban Santiago tells a Florida judge he understands the gravity of the charges.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Airport shooting suspect Esteban Santiago, handcuffed, shackled and wearing a red maximumsecurity jumpsuit, spoke in a monotone Monday as he answered questions from a judge during a court hearing that lasted about 30 minutes.
Santiago, 26, is accused of killing five people and wounding six others. He was flanked by eight to nine deputy U.S. marshals as he answered questions from U.S. Magistrate Alicia Valle at the city’s federal courthouse.
“The maximum penalty, if you were to be convicted, is death. It is a capital offense,” Valle told him.
Santiago, who stared down at the defense table for much of the hearing, said he understood the seriousness of the charges.
Santiago did not say anything about his alleged motive or why he came to Florida.
He also said nothing about his mental health or psychiatric diagnosis.
But Santiago told authorities after his arrest that doctors said he may have schizophrenia, sources told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
He said he was told that in November during a mental health evaluation he underwent after he sought help from the FBI office in Anchorage, the sources said.
People with schizophrenia may lose touch with some aspects of reality, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Other possible symptoms include hallucinations, delusions and unusual or dysfunctional ways of thinking.
FBI agents said he reported that he was having terrorist thoughts and believed that the government was controlling his mind and pushing him to watch Islamic State propaganda videos.
In answering a series of questions from the judge on Monday, Santiago, with tattoos on both arms and wearing flip-flops with no socks, said he had no assets and about $5 or $10 in his bank account.
Santiago told the judge that he had not worked since November, when he left his job as a security guard in Anchorage, a position that earned him about $2,100 monthly during the last three years.
Before that, Santiago said, he was in the Army “around 10 years,” earning about $15,000 a year by the end of his stint.
During the hearing, Assistant U.S. Atty. Ricardo Del Toro said prosecutors wanted Santiago detained without bond. A bond hearing was scheduled for Jan. 17, and an arraignment, during which Santiago will formally plead to the charges against him, is set for Jan. 23.
McMahon writes for the South Florida Sun Sentinel.