Relatives of the man accused of Friday’s shooting rampage at a Florida airport say he had a history of mental health problems and was receiving psychological treatment at his home in Alaska.
(FOX)- Esteban Santiago, 26, retrieved his gun from his bag on the carousel, loaded it in a bathroom of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, then emerged shooting in the baggage-claim area, killing five people and wounding eight, authorities said.
Santiago brought a gun in a checked bag on an Air Canada flight, officials said. “He claimed his bag and took the gun from baggage and went into the bathroom to load it.
Came out shooting people in baggage claim,” Broward County Commissioner Chip LaMarca wrote on Facebook.
Guard spokesman Maj. Paul Dahlen said Santiago deployed to Iraq in 2010 as part of the Puerto Rico National Guard, spending a year with an engineering battalion.
The suspect’s uncle, Hernan Rivera, told The Record newspaper: “Only thing I could tell you was when he came out of Iraq, he wasn’t feeling too good.”
In recent years, Santiago had been living in Anchorage, Alaska, his brother, Bryan Santiago, told The Associated Press from Puerto Rico. He said his brother’s girlfriend had recently called the family to alert them to his treatment.