N.J. aunt of alleged Fla. shooter: 'I don't know why ... he lost his mind'
The alleged gunman who killed at least five people at a Florida airport on Friday was an Army veteran who was born in New Jersey, and a recent father who began to have problems about a month ago when a relative said he began to see things and “lost his mind.”
Esteban Santiago, 26, who had been living in Alaska, was arrested after a shooting rampage that began around noon at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and left five people dead and six people wounded, law enforcement officials said.
Santiago had served with the National Guard in Iraq and became a father in September, said his aunt, Maria Luisa Ruiz, who lives in Union City. She said that another member of her family had told her that he was the suspect in the Fort Lauderdale shooting.
Santiago, who was a combat engineer, received a general discharge from the military in August for “unsatisfactory performance,” said Candis A. Olmstead, director of public affairs for the Alaska National Guard. She did not provide further details about what led to the discharge.
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A federal law enforcement official, who is not authorized to comment publicly on the case, said Santiago walked into an FBI office in Anchorage, saying that the Islamic State group had gained control of his mind and was urging him to fight on its behalf. The FBI found no connection to terror groups, and turned him over to local authorities for a medical referral.
Santiago's aunt reported that he had been hospitalized for two weeks recently after suffering from an unspecified condition. She spoke to reporters at her home on 20th Street in Union City on Friday afternoon before FBI agents showed up at her door and local authorities closed off the street.
“I don’t know why this happened,” she said during the interview.
The federal official confirmed the suspect’s name and date of birth as Esteban Santiago, born March 16, 1990.
Ruiz said her nephew had been living in Alaska, where he was able to obtain a job in security, and she showed reporters a photo of him at a hospital holding his newborn son in September. Staff members at Providence Hospital in Anchorage confirmed that the photo appeared to have been taken in their children’s hospital.
In the photo, Santiago wore a T-shirt from the band Disturbed. Ruiz said that Santiago, whose mother lives in Puerto Rico, appeared happy after the birth of his son but that something happened to him about one month ago.
“Like a month ago, it was like he lost his mind,” she said. “He said he saw things.”
The shooting occurred around 1 p.m. next to the baggage claim area at Terminal 2, which serves Delta Airlines. Witnesses said the gunman fired randomly at people gathered near a baggage carousel and reloaded his weapon several times. One witness said he was wearing a blue “Star Wars” T-shirt.
One passenger, Mark Lea, told MSNBC that the shooter was “just randomly shooting people” with a 9 mm pistol without saying a word. After emptying about three magazines of bullets, Lea said, the shooter got down on the ground in a spread-eagle position and waited for police to arrive.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said the suspect, who was not injured, was taken into custody and was being interviewed Friday night by local authorities and the FBI. He said that authorities had not yet determined whether the shooting would be labeled a terrorist attack, adding that it appeared Santiago had acted alone.
Chip LaMarca, a Broward County commissioner, who was briefed on the shooting, said the suspect arrived in Fort Lauderdale aboard a flight, and had checked a bag that contained the gun he later used inside the airport. It was not clear on Friday whether he had declared the gun or how the gun got past security. The suspect claimed his bag, took out the gun and went into a bathroom to load it before he “came out shooting people” in the baggage claim area, LaMarca said.
Ruiz said Santiago has five siblings, three who live in Florida and two in Puerto Rico. One of his brothers called to tell her “It’s him, it’s him,” she said. “I don’t know what else to say. I’m really sad.”
She said Santiago had gone to live in Puerto Rico after he got back from Iraq and was studying there, but he was unable to find work, which is why he moved to Alaska. She said he “really liked the military” and continued to be active in the National Guard in Alaska.
“Right now, my family and I are suffering," she said. "My family and I are in shock right now. We don't know what is going to happen. It's sad but we have to confront the situation. … This hurts me as if he was my own son. I hope God is with him.”
Santiago joined the National Guard in Puerto Rico in 2007 and served in Iraq from April 23, 2010, to Feb. 19, 2011, a military spokeswoman said. He joined the Alaska National Guard in 2014. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, said Santiago was carrying a military identification card when he was arrested.
The shooting sent people scrambling out of the terminal and onto the tarmac, some carrying luggage and crouching behind cars for cover. A video posted on Instagram showed several people wounded in the baggage area. Paramedics were seen treating a bleeding victim outside of the airport.
Maria Cedeño, a Broward County resident who had just gotten off a Delta flight from Atlanta, told The Record that she took refuge in a Terminal 2 bathroom, where she said two armed female officers from the Sheriff’s Department carrying guns and flashlights appeared to be searching for someone. She said FBI agents were also in the airport.
Cedeño said people were told over loudspeakers to “stay where you are.” She said she had been on her way to the baggage claim area shortly before the shooting, but made a restroom stop. “I could have been there in that moment,’’ Cedeño said.
Staff Writers Monsy Alvarado, Aida Toro and Lisa Marie Segarra contributed to this article.
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