Airport attacker formally charged

Grand jury returns multiple charges that could bring death penalty

Esteban Santiago, who could face the death penalty or life in prison, was formally charged Thursday with killing five people and wounding six others in a mass shooting this month at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Santiago, 26, was indicted on 22 federal charges after prosecutors presented their evidence on the Jan. 6 attack to a grand jury in Fort Lauderdale.

Santiago was charged with five counts of causing death at an international airport, six counts of causing serious bodily injury at an international airport, five counts of causing death during a crime of violence and six counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence.

Santiago, an Iraq war veteran with a history of mental health problems, is due back Monday in federal court in Fort Lau-

derdale, where he is expected to plead not guilty to the charges against him.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom, who usually holds court in Miami.

Since his arrest, Santiago has been locked up, in solitary confinement and under suicide watch, at the Broward County main jail in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

The grand jurors made special findings, required by law if prosecutors decide to seek the death penalty, regarding Santiago’s age, mental state and other factors. They found that Santiago caused “grave risk of death to other people” and that the crimes involved “substantial planning and premeditation.”

Five people died and six others survived gunshot wounds in the shooting in the baggage carousel area in Terminal 2 at the airport.

The five people who died were Mary Louise Amzibel, 69, of Dover, Del; Michael John Oehme, 57, of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Olga M. Woltering, 84, of Marietta, Ga.; Shirley Wells Timmons, 70, of Senecaville, Ohio; and Terry Michael Andres, 62, of Virginia Beach, Va. All are named as victims in the indictment.

The six people who were wounded by gunfire, including Amzibel’s husband, Edward, Timmons’ husband, Steve, and Oehme’s wife, Kari, are identified only by their initials in the indictment.

According to court records and testimony, Santiago confessed to planning the attack and told investigators he traveled to South Florida to carry it out. His possible motive remains unclear, though family members said he was mentally ill.

Investigators said they have not ruled out terrorism but filed no terrorism-related charges against Santiago. He told agents he had visited online “jihadi chat rooms” and thought he was in contact with Islamic State terrorists, but investigators have not yet confirmed if that is true.

In November, Santiago voluntarily agreed to enter a psychiatric hospital for treatment after he went to the FBI office in Anchorage, Alaska, where he lived at the time.

He asked for help and told FBI agents that the U.S. government was controlling his mind and urging him to watch terrorist propaganda videos. Local police confiscated his gun, and he was hospitalized for less than a week. His gun was returned to him one month before the fatal airport attack.

The case is being handled by prosecutors Ricardo Del Toro and Lawrence LaVecchio, and Santiago is being defended by assistant federal public defenders Robert Berube and Eric Cohen.

Santiago