Washington – The suspect in an airport shooting in Florida could face the death penalty after prosecutors on Saturday filed court documents accusing him of airport violence, gun crimes and murder, local media reported.
Investigators said Esteban Santiago, 26, had told them he checked in luggage in Alaska containing a semiautomatic handgun which he claimed on arrival in Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Friday.
He then took his luggage into a stall at the men’s restroom where he loaded the gun and then went out to shoot the first people he saw, the investigators said in court documents quoted by the “Sun Sentinel” newspaper.
Fort Lauderdale airport shooter Esteban Ruiz Santiago booking photo from January 7, 2017. (Credit Image: © Sun-Sentinel via ZUMA Wire)
“Santiago fired approximately 10 to 15 rounds of ammunition from his firearm, aiming at his victims’ heads. He was described as walking while shooting in a methodical manner,” investigators wrote.
Five people died and six were injured in the attack.
Santiago is to make his first appearance in a federal Fort Lauderdale court on Monday, though, according to the newspaper it may take weeks before official charges are filed.
Earlier on Saturday, FBI spokesman George Piro said Santiago had travelled to Florida specifically to carry out the shooting but that his motive was still unclear and terrorism could not yet be ruled out.
Law enforcement sources told CNN that Santiago appeared at an FBI office in Alaska in November, where he told officers his mind was being controlled by US intelligence.
Though authorities were concerned enough to send him for a mental health evaluation and take away his gun, it was returned to him a month later and it was that weapon with which Santiago carried out Friday’s assault.
His brother, Bryan Santiago Ruiz, told the New York Times his sibling had only been admitted to a psychiatric hospital for a few days and received no follow-up treatment.
Esteban Santiago joined the National Guard in Puerto Rico in 2007 and three years later went to Iraq, where his family told the Times he had first shown signs of mental illness.
-dpa
