Death penalty possible in Florida airport shooting case
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Esteban Ruiz Santiago, 26, Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Relatives of the man who police say opened fire Friday killing several people and wounding others at a Florida airport report he had a history of mental health issues.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. >> While investigators try to figure out the motive of an Iraq war veteran accused of killing five travelers and wounding six others at a busy international airport in Florida, the suspected gunman was charged and could face the death penalty if convicted.
Esteban Santiago, 26, was charged with an act of violence at an international airport resulting in death — which carries a maximum punishment of execution — and weapons charges.
Santiago told investigators that he planned the attack, buying a one-way ticket to the Fort Lauderdale airport, a federal complaint said. Authorities don’t know why he chose his target and have not ruled out terrorism.
“Today’s charges represent the gravity of the situation and reflect the commitment of federal, state and local law enforcement personnel to continually protect the community and prosecute those who target our residents and visitors,” U.S Attorney Wifredo Ferrer said.
Authorities said during a news conference that they had interviewed roughly 175 people, including a lengthy interrogation with a cooperative Santiago, who is a former National Guard soldier from Alaska. Flights had resumed at the Fort Lauderdale airport after the bloodshed, though the terminal where the shooting happened remained closed.
FBI Agent George Piro said Santiago spoke to investigators for several hours after he opened fire with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun that he appears to have legally checked on a flight from Alaska.
“Indications are that he came here to carry out this horrific attack,” Piro said. “We have not identified any triggers that would have caused this attack. We’re pursuing all angles on what prompted him to carry out this horrific attack.”
Investigators are combing through social media and other information to determine Santiago’s motive, and it’s too early to say whether terrorism played a role, Piro said. In November, Santiago had walked into an FBI field office in Alaska saying the U.S. government was controlling his mind and forcing him to watch Islamic State group videos, authorities said.
“He was a walk-in complaint. This is something that happens at FBI offices around the country every day,” FBI agent Marlin Ritzman said.
Santiago had a loaded magazine on him, but had left a gun in his vehicle, along with his newborn child, authorities said. Officers seized the weapon and local officers took him to get a mental health evaluation. His girlfriend picked up the child.
On Dec. 8, the gun was returned to Santiago. Authorities wouldn’t say if it was the same gun used in the airport attack.
U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler said Santiago would have been able to legally possess a gun because he had not been judged mentally ill, which is a higher standard than having an evaluation.
Santiago had not been placed on the U.S. no-fly list and appears to have acted alone, authorities said.
The attack sent panicked witnesses running out of the terminal and spilling onto the tarmac, baggage in hand. Others hid in bathroom stalls or crouched behind cars or anything else they could find as police and paramedics rushed in to help the wounded and establish whether there were any other gunmen.
Mark Lea, 53, had just flown in from Minnesota with his wife for a cruise when he heard three quick cracks, like a firecracker. Then came more cracks, and “I knew it was more than just a firecracker,” he said.
Making sure his wife was outside, Lea helped evacuate some older women who had fallen, he said. Then he saw the shooter.
“He was just kind of randomly shooting people,” he said. “If you were in his path, you were going to get shot. He was walking and shooting.”
Over the course of about 45 seconds, the shooter reloaded twice, he said. When he was out of bullets, he walked away, dropped the gun and lay face down, spread eagle on the floor, Lea said.
By that time, a deputy had arrived and grabbed the shooter. Lea put his foot on the gun to secure it.
Lea went to help the injured and a woman from Iowa asked about her husband, who she described. Lea saw a man who fit his description behind a row of chairs, motionless, shot in the head and lying in a pool of blood, he said. The man, Michael Oehme, was identified as one of the dead victims on Saturday.
Santiago had been discharged from the National Guard last year after being demoted for unsatisfactory performance. Bryan Santiago said Saturday that his brother had requested psychological help but received little assistance. Esteban Santiago said in August that he was hearing voices.
“How is it possible that the federal government knows, they hospitalize him for only four days, and then give him his weapon back?” Bryan Santiago said.
His mother declined to comment as she stood inside the screen door of the family home in Puerto Rico, wiping tears from her eyes. The only thing she said was that Esteban Santiago had been tremendously affected by seeing a bomb explode next to two of his friends when he was around 18 years old while serving in Iraq.
Santiago, who is in federal custody with no bail, will face federal charges and is expected to appear in court Monday, Piro said.
It is legal for airline passengers 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 Anchorage aboard a Delta flight Thursday night, checking only one piece of luggage — his gun, said Jesse Davis, police chief at the Anchorage airport.
46 responses to “Death penalty possible in Florida airport shooting case”
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mental health problems are a national tragedy
All ISIS assasins are sane…ideology is a motivation that can’t be denied…not to mention the rewards, 72 virgins.
If you think this guy is Daesh, you’d better call the FBI field office in Florida and let them know.
They’ve been interviewing him since his arrest and still haven’t gotten to any motive, nor do they have any evidence that backs up your apparent contention. I’m sure they could benefit greatly from your obviously superior expertise and information.
But on the other hand, if you’re merely shooting your mouth off, stuff a sock in it.
He’s obviously insane.
Take your pick with regard to who I’m writing about.
@KKKlastri
You LOST in an EPIC LANDSLIDE! Eat CROW!
WeThePeople WON!!
Gonna have a #MAGA PARTY in 12 days!!!
January 20…12 days #MAGA
Keonigohan – You are again repeating your continuing lie about a landslide. That didn’t actually happen of course, except in your remarkable mind.
@ KKKlastri
ok ok WeTheDeplorablePeople WON …in a tiny landslide!
Better?
Eat CROW!
January 20 #MAGA
Klastri, you Ikeformeli and DannoBoy should drink the kool-aid laced with antifreeze. ISIS terrorists are running out of virgins to offer to martyrs. All that is left for the martyrs are 80+ year old Catholic virgin nuns outside but they still need virgin minded imbeciles like yourself. LOL
@ HanabataDays
Use the same Kleenex for your TEARS!!!
12 days & counting before your WH Muslim & his FAILED policies are gone!!!
Eat CROW with KKKlastri ha!!
January 20 #MAGA
So appropriate to just kill a Vet with mental problems who went off the deep end? I think not. What this person did was terrible but rather than killing this person it should be determined why he was mentally ill and if his service in Iraq caused it. I have said before that there appears to be lots of time bombs just waiting to go off thanks to GW’s wars. I think the Obama administration did a lot to help diffuse this problem but obviously lots remains to be done. Lets not wait for another attack before we do something.
Lets send him to Obama’s VA
Too late, soon it will be the Donald’s VA.
Yup PE Trump cleaning up the WH Muslim’s MESS.
12 days oh yeahhhhh! #MAGA
enjoy it while you can Keonigohan, If the dow is not up to 25,000 in 4 years, with the deficit still under 500 billion and unemployment under 5%, but rather if the market is down to 15000, with the deficit over a trillion and unemployment up to 10%, guess what will happen to the Donald? lololololol
At least with Obama we have seen the market rise by over a thousand points with unemployment falling to under 5%. Lets see how well the Donald does. Say are you looking forward to your new minimum wage job?
@ boots and his stock mantra
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Wake me up on January 20 #MAGA
So boots, care to tell me why Hawaii’s ERS pension is returning negative results when the stock market has been up every single year for the last 8 years? LMAO
dragoninwater – Your comment is a lie, of course. Like always. You are not able to write truthfully, like the others in your sad peer group.
Here are the ERS investment returns for the past few fiscal years:
2013 – 21.1%
2014 – 17.8
2015 – 4.2
@ boots
KKKlastri your spokesperson? KKKlastri took over allie’s responses…you too now?
Keonigohan – You know how I dislike lying among your peer group. So I enjoy pointing out when that happens. It’s entertaining in a sad sort of way.
Believe it or not, Boots can still comment. Did you know that? You learn something new from me every day!
@ KKKlastri
Yes I do learn something from you every time you type. You feel superior to your peers where you feel the need to answer for them fearing they may not say what you’d want them to say.
And the other thing I learn…I thank GOD I’m not obsesssd with myself like…a true narcissist like you.
Amen
klastri, chose to omit 2016 ehhhh? hahahahahaha, BTW, post your sources for these claimed gains. I see losses and nothing close to the numbers you claim for the years you posted. http://ers.ehawaii.gov/investments/performance
Loser does not deserve face on website.
Do you really think this is an appropriate way to refer to a Vet with mental problems? Just curious.
@ boots
You love Hassan too?
Maybe if you CAPITALIZE more, at least some of your lies might become true?
Might be worth a try!
klastri,
You don’t expect Keonigohan to know about capital letters do you?
@ KKKlastri & boots
Get a room & order room service..CROW pancakes!!!
January 20 #MAGA
Boots – The most amusing thing is that he actually believes that he contributed to the Trump win. No one in Hawaii did, of course. Everything he and others did here was just background noise.
No matter what the facts are, you can bet he’s going to keep taking credit!
@ KKKlastri < Head Klown And yet PE Trump will President of the United States of America on January 20, 2017. #MAGA Eat KROW KKKlastri! Save some for your boyfriend boots.
I wish some A HOLE that wants to and feels he must do it go shoot up some drug dealing thugs with guns instead of shooting innocent people that have nothing to do with anything.
Sounds like you would be happy living in the Philippines!
So is this nut case, a Hispanic convert to Islam {the “religion of peace”).
His attack at the airport does seem to have all the hall marks of a Islamic terror attack.
And as in a number of these attacks, the authorities appear to have had the opportunity to stop this guy before hand but coincidentally failed to do so.
Very strange.
So what does that mean? You think the FBI is involved in a conspiracy?
No evidence of this as yet, but there does seem to be a recurrent pattern of the FBI failing to take preemptive action even when the information about probable
dangerous individuals have been brought to their attention. If this is due to incompetence this must mean that the degree of incompetence is rampant.
It is now being reported by various news sites that the shooter, Santiago, was indeed a Islamic convert even before he served in Iraq and had taken the islamic name, Aashiq Hammed which is required when converting to Islam as you cannot retain your “kaffir” name and be a true follower of Islam.
Klastri, so what does that mean? You think the State Dept under HitLIARy is involved in a conspiracy?
I think that anyone who writes the word HitLIARy isn’t bright enough to comment on anything.
@ KKKlastri
Why you sensitive? That time of the….never mind.
Are you going to have a party on January 20th like you did on Nov 8th? Did “ALL” you friends (cough) come then?
You can come to mine. Just look for the HUGE SIGN on my house…”My Hawaii Vote did not count but my DEPLORABLE MOVEMENT FRIENDS took Donald J. Trump & Mike Pence over the FINISH LINE!”
Keonigohan – You just imagine (you make up a lot of things) that I’m sensitive. That’s not true, of course. Not much of what you write is. You fabricate in your head that you have some kind of influence over smart people here, and that’s obviously just laughable.
I didn’t write that we were having a party on November 20th, so you got that wrong also. I did write that we will be in Washington DC, and that’s still true. We were hoping to celebrate the inauguration of Mrs. Clinton, but instead on the 20th there’s a large gathering of ACLU volunteer attorneys (whose collective goal is to prevent Mr. Trump from succeeding with his fabricated “mandate”) and then my wife and daughter are marching the next day in the Women’s March. Should be quite a time!
The ACLU has recruited almost 500,000 patriots to join and contribute just since the election. Great news!
@ KKKlastri
You LIE so much you can’t cover all of them.
You did say you were going to have a big party to celebrate Crooked hiLIARy’s win on Nov 8th.
That’s why it was so devastating to you when she LOST in a HUGE LANDSLIDE that you didn’t show for several WEEKS! Your bloviating boasts gave you such a HUGE BUTTHURT EMBRASSMENT of epic proportions.
I laugh at you so much I had to show my family & some of my conservative friend’s your posts…some of them believe you are worst than O.. the LYING…and the NARCISSISM.
I have Krowned you King Klown…perfect title for you!
January 20…#MAGA
Whatever happened in the last 8 years blame Obama and the Dumbos. This guy went off because we send our young men to war only to lose under a Feckless Commander in Hief more interested in the rights of police killers.
O…the WORST potus in American history!
He’ll probably be the Klan’s choice for worst. So that makes sense.
He won’t be any real historian’s choice for worst. So that makes sense, too. You haven’t shown yourself to be a very good history student.
@ KKKlastri
All I have to know about American History now is history was made on November 8, 2016.
Do you know what happened on that day?
You guessed it..your life turned upside down and we, WeDeplorables here at SA, didn’t see you for two…or was that three whole weeks.
And you still eating KROW!
January 29, 2017 #MAGA
Don’t forget to set up your VCR so you won’t miss an American history moment!!
Keonigohan – Yes, of course.
As impossible as it seems, you actually get more pathetic every day.
@ KKKlastri
And you feel you’re the smartest person in the World right?
lol
You are unbelievable lol
Put this man to sleep. He is a mass killer and deserves no opportunities to hurt anyone else. And once again. his family and friends knew.