A US Army veteran opened fire in the baggage claim area of the Fort Lauderdale airport in Florida on Friday, claiming the lives of at least five people and injuring another eight before throwing his gun down and lying spread-eagle on the ground. He had just landed at the airport with a weapon in his luggage and was immediately taken into custody following the shooting without the police firing at him.
Broward County commissioner Chip LaMarca said in a Facebook post that the gunman had checked his weapon in his luggage for his flight into Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. After check-in, he went to the washroom and "came out shooting people in baggage claim," located outside the secure area.
There was panic at the airport around one and a half hours after the shooting with passengers at other parts of the airport reporting that shots had been fired. However, the reports turned out to be false.
Esteban Santiago, a 26-year-old war veteran who served in Iraq with the National Guard, claimed that the government was controlling his mind. Santiago was demoted and discharged from the Alaska army national guard, where he was serving as a combat engineer, in 2015 for unsatisfactory performance. According to his brother, he had been undergoing psychological treatment in Alaska but didn't know what exactly he was being treated for.
"We don't know a motive at this point. This could well be someone who is mentally deranged, or in fact it could be someone who had a much more sinister motive that we have to worry about every day, and that is terrorism," Senator Bill Nelson of Florida was quoted by the Associated Press (AP) as saying.
Federal law enforcement officials told the New York Times (NYT) that they were investigating if Santiago was a mentally disturbed man who was hearing voices in his head that asked him to commit violent acts. Santiago had visited the FBI office in Anchorage before the attack and made comments that forced officials to ask him to undergo psychological treatment. He told the FBI that even though he was hearing voices in his head, he didn't intend to hurt anyone. He also added that the materials were put on his computer by a government agency that was trying to control his mind.
A witness at the airport told AP that the war veteran kept shooting at passengers till he ran out of ammunition for his gun leading to panicked passengers running out of the terminal and spilling onto the tarmac with baggage in hand. Several hid themselves behind cars or tried to protect themselves with whatever they could find as the police and paramedics rushed to the airport to help those injured and shift them to hospital for treatment, while trying to establish whether there was more than one attacker. The airport was also shut down.
"People started kind of screaming and trying to get out of any door they could or hide under the chairs. He just kind of continued coming in, just randomly shooting at people, no rhyme or reason to it," a witness, Mark Lea, was quoted by AP as saying.
Police Chief at Anchorage Airport Jesse Davis said that Santiago, who wore a Star Wars T-shirt and used a 9 mm handgun, had arrived in Florida from Anchorage in Alaska, his hometown, on a Delta flight and had checked in only one piece of luggage — a gun.
US President Barack Obama also expressed grief and told ABC: "Until I've got all the information... I don't want to comment on it other than just to say how heartbroken we are for the families who've been affected. These kinds of tragedies have happened too often during the eight years that I've been president."
President-elect Donald Trump also tweeted saying that he was monitoring the situation in Florida and had also spoken to Governor Rick Scott about the shooting.
Monitoring the terrible situation in Florida. Just spoke to Governor Scott. Thoughts and prayers for all. Stay safe!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017
Governor Scott said at a press conference at the airport that the shooting was "a senseless act of evil... You just can't imagine how this could ever happen in a great state like ours. Think of the innocent lives that are lost. We still have people fighting for their lives in our hospitals."
He added: "Whoever is responsible will be held accountable to the full extent of the law. Let me repeat this, the state of Florida, the citizens of Florida, law enforcement, will not tolerate evil acts. My heart goes out to every family impacted. The families who lost their loved ones, and those with loved ones still in hospital fighting for their lives."
Scott, a Republican, further added that he had spoken to Trump and Vice president-elect Mike Pence who told him that "whatever resources we needed from the federal government, they would do everything in their power to make that happen."
When asked whether the state required stricter gun control laws, Scott said: "It's horrible what happened here, it's not time to be political, it's a time to mourn those who lost their lives, finish the investigation and pray for everybody that's still fighting for their lives."
Airline passengers are legally permitted to travel with guns and ammunition as long as the weapons are put in the check-in baggage and are unloaded and locked in a hard-sided container. All weapons have to be declared to the concerned airline during check-in.
