A 26-year-old military veteran is in federal custody and investigators are searching for a motive after a shooting at the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., airport left five people dead and eight wounded — with many more injured in the chaos that followed the attack. CBC reports.
Authorities said they are looking at all angles as they investigate the shooting near the baggage area inside Terminal 2, which serves Delta Air Lines and Air Canada.
The airport suspended operations as law enforcement authorities rushed to the scene, and emergency medical workers treated people on the tarmac.
Law enforcement officials speaking Friday night said Esteban Santiago was in custody in connection with the case. He was unharmed when taken into custody and law enforcement fired no shots.
Santiago served in Iraq with the National Guard before being discharged. He has been interviewed by the FBI and local police, officials said.
Neither local nor federal officials would speculate on motives for the shooting, saying only that every possibility, including terrorism, was being considered.
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George Piro, special investigator in charge of the Miami FBI who spoke Friday, said that the accused will be charged federally and a first court appearance is expected Monday.
He also confirmed a report from unnamed sources that Santiago had walked into an FBI office in Anchorage, Alaska, in November. The official said Friday that when he walked into the Alaska office, Santiago was showing erratic behaviour but said he didn’t intend to harm anyone. FBI agents contacted local police, who in turn took him to medical facility for a mental health assessment.
Jesse Davis, the chief of police at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Alaska, told The Associated Press that Santiago flew out of the city on Thursday at 9:52 p.m. local time on a Delta flight, and that a firearm was his only piece of checked luggage. He said Santiago flew from Anchorage to Minneapolis-St. Paul and on to Fort Lauderdale.
The brother of Esteban Santiago said Esteban had been receiving psychological treatment while living in Alaska.
Bryan Santiago told The Associated Press that his family got a call in recent months from Esteban Santiago’s girlfriend alerting them to the situation. He said he didn’t know what his brother was being treated for and that they never talked about it over the phone.
A spokeswoman for the Alaska National Guard said Santiago served as a combat engineer in the guard before his discharge for “unsatisfactory performance.”
Lt.-Col. Candis Olmstead would not elaborate on his discharge, but the Pentagon said he’d gone AWOL several times and was demoted and discharged.