Yesterday it was widely reported that this attack had nothing to do with terrorism. Now authorities are backtracking.
“Fort Lauderdale airport suspect ‘came here specifically’ to attack, FBI says,” by Catherine E. Shoichet, Steve Almasy and Ray Sanchez, CNN, January 7, 2017:
(CNN)Esteban Santiago went to baggage claim and picked up his one piece of checked luggage.
There were no other bags, just a case with a handgun inside.
Santiago allegedly took the 9 mm handgun out of its case and fired at other travelers Friday afternoon, killing five people at the Fort Lauderdale airport. On Saturday, authorities revised the number of wounded to six after earlier saying eight.
A few months earlier he reportedly had a mental evaluation after a bizarre visit to an FBI office in Alaska….
In November, Santiago paid a visit to the FBI office in Anchorage, telling agents he was hearing voices and being directed by a US intelligence agency to watch ISIS videos, law enforcement sources told CNN.
George Piro, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Miami, told reporters that Santiago was turned over to local authorities and he voluntarily submitted to a mental health evaluation.
“His erratic behavior concerned FBI agents,” Piro said Saturday.
The military said Santiago’s nine years of service in the National Guard included one 10-month tour of Iraq, where he was awarded a combat action badge.
Santiago returned from Iraq a changed man, his aunt told CNN on Saturday.
“His mind was not right,” the aunt, Maria Ruiz Rivera, said in a phone interview in Spanish from her home in New Jersey. “He seemed normal at times, but other times he seemed lost. He changed.”
She added, “He talked about all the destruction and the killing of children. He had visions all the time.”…Authorities do not know why Santiago was in Fort Lauderdale.
But Piro said Saturday that Santiago “came here specifically to carry out this horrific attack.”
“We have not identified any triggers that would have caused this attack,” he said.
Piro said investigators were looking at airport video to see how the rampage unfolded. Authorities have conducted more than 100 interviews as part of their investigation.
What was the motive?
The FBI has not ruled out terrorism, Piro said, but Israel cautioned it was early in the investigation and authorities did not know Santiago’s motive….

davej says
Among many other questions: Why would he travel from Alaska to Ft Lauderdale to randomly shoot up the airport there?
Ashley says
davej…I tossed and turned all night about this very matter. IT MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE! Santiago had a brief association with Naples, FL, but why execute jihad at the Fort Lauderdale airport? I’m in New England tending to pets, outdoor bird feeders and house plants…their owners all took off to Florida. Not one of our twelve clients are Jewish…
Weird. Very weird.
JIMJFOX says
1. How the hell can guns be legally carried on aircraft? Only the USA allows this? Where did the ammunition come from?
2. Could his ‘mental illness’ be a feigned, long-term construction of an alibi?
3. No mention of ‘alahu akbar?
4. His obsession with Islam and jihad leaves no doubt about terror as his motive.
j_not_a says
Apparently it is legal to put them in checked luggage if the person has the proper ownership papers and other paperwork filled from what I’ve read
gravenimage says
The gun was in checked baggage.
somehistory says
“Israel cautioned”?
There are a lot of moslims in that area of Florida. Maybe he thinks he will get off as they will be in the jury pool.
Gman says
“Isreal” is the County Sheriff down there.
somehistory says
Yes, but nothing was said by him in the body of the article. That is why I questioned it. And just sticking his last name in at the end can be confusing.
He is the one who hired the moslim to be a deputy, even against advice from others.
somehistory says
There are also concerns with container companies and Port Canaveral connections to countries controlled by moslims. Evidently, the port is leased to some.
terry says
The sheriff (in FL) ( especially a large and/or large populated county-as is Broward) does NOT personally hire every deputy.
In the 1990’s I lived there for a few years- there were good deputies (most) and some creeps ( a few). Probably the same in any large organization.
And Sheriff Israel was at the scene, and did make (at least one or two ) comments. Admittedly, just clarifying something.
somehistory says
Terry,
There were several articles about the sheriff personally hiring the moslim deputy this past year. Even though the guy’s background would have suggested to some…and did…that he should not be in a position of law enforcement authority and carry a gun.
And Israel may have said something to the reporter whose news article is above, but his name only appears at the end without saying *who* he is.
JawsV says
Yes, Sheriff Scott Israel. I noticed that too, right away.
Yesenia says
I was confused too… In fact, I read that part of the article twice….
Ashley says
In November, Santiago paid a visit to the FBI office in Anchorage, telling agents he was hearing voices and being directed by a US intelligence agency to watch ISIS videos, law enforcement sources told CNN.
George Piro, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Miami, told reporters that Santiago was turned over to local authorities and he voluntarily submitted to a mental health evaluation.
“His erratic behavior concerned FBI agents,” Piro said Saturday.
___________________
At the risk of taking a shitload of criticism here, I DO think Santiago is a bit “touched in the head.” Sounds like HE initiated contact with the FBI in Anchorage and gave reasonable warning that he was an unstable bloke. He voluntarily submitted to a mental health evaluation. He attempted to strangle his girlfriend. Yet he had the proper documentation and clearance to travel clear across the country with ONLY a firearm as baggage. WHY DIDN’T THAT RAISE RED FLAGS? Dude didn’t even bother to toss in a pair of swimming trunks with his gun to make the winter Florida trip appear legit.
Please don’t get me wrong…I, too, am fed up with the mental health playing card being exploited and abused. It isn’t lost on me that Santiago identified with ISIS. But I have yet to see mention that he converted to Islam.
I think Santiago may very well be a bona fide head case. If this was not indicated in his mental health evaluation, I shudder at his claim of “being directed by a US intelligence agency to watch ISIS videos,”
Jesus…what if that is true?
Mak says
I assume Obama watches them and passes them around. I can’t wait to the USA rids itself of this Caliph.
Thank everything we got Trump!!!
StacyGirl says
At the very least he should have been on a no-fly list. Instead he’s allowed to travel with a weapon and ammo thanks to the FBI. These “lone wolves” are killing US with the death of a million incidents that are soon forgotten.
gravenimage says
Lots of Jihadists are also head cases–these are not mutually exclusive states…
Undaunted says
There is no way TSA would know he ONLY had a 9mm in his stowed luggage, they don’t check it. If a bomb dog were to go though the general area where luggage is passed to and from a plane, the odds of some bullets being detected is pretty small since there are many ways to mask such odors in small concentration.
I think he just figured there were more Jews in Florida than Alaska so he went to FL with the tool he intended to use to kill them, got there and went immediately to work. It’s not hard to understand, seems to me.
Undaunted says
I think Trump will be a good President but he won’t effect the barbarians already inside the walls here, not the ones who are already committed to jihad. As I’ve said before here; the local law enforcement agencies run counter-terrorism in this country, not the US military. Trump doesn’t appoint governors, mayors, city councils, etc. They are elected and people can be fooled by just about anybody seeking office. I mean, shit, look at Boston; one of the biggest reasons their cool one-event track meet got bombed a few years back is because the elected officials were corrupt and they put into important law enforcement positions people who don’t know whether to shit or go blind when it comes to CT.
Too many city officials are still too liberal to take the steps needed to back down the threat we face from the invisible Muslim time-bomb. In fact, I think attacks in the US will increase under Trump, but not because he’s inept but because state, county, municipal governments are not under his authority: he doesn’t command the LAPD and can’t send Delta Force to Denver to take out an ISIS cell.
Don’t fool yourself. Prepare yourself.
carpentaro says
And, areas have already been seeded by BHO.
terry says
In Cambridge, Mass (not sure if changed) but at the time of the bombings, the city outlawed surveillance cameras in public (municipal) areas. An infringement.
Something might expect in Texas or a right wing state. (I am a right winger, and like the idea of surveillance cameras-let whomever wants to see me, in a shopping center, or park or whatever). My right to safety, in my view, supersedes all else.
j_not_a says
What if he did all of this going to the FBI and telling them about the “voices” and that other nonsense ahead of time on purpose to make it LOOK LIKE he was whackadoo so he could plead not guilty by reason of insanity? Look at the way he calmly shot those people and then just laid down on the floor and waited for the cops. They usually kill themselves after they finish shooting their victims. I think he’s crazy all right, crazy like a fox.
I think he picked Florida so he’d be as far away from the ex girlfriend and his kid as possible , and as close to his family in Puerto Rico as possible.
Yesenia says
He is so crazy that when he ran out of bullets he threw the gun and spread eagle on the floor and waited to be arrested. Whatever!
davej says
It does sound like he was affected by PTSD and was mentally unsound, unfortunately the Jihadist ideology has a magnetic attraction to both criminals and schizophrenics.
Even if he had not officially converted, the neck scarf and one finger salute demonstrate that he was inspired on some level by ISIS. Had he been reading the ISIS magazine urging lone wolves to attack public venues – we don’t know but it is certainly possible.
Ashley says
I again find myself agreeing with you, davej. Something isn’t adding up.
The garden variety jihadist doesn’t tip-his-hat to the FBI that he’s fucking crazy, hearing voices, and instructed to view ISIS videos at the direction of the US government months before pulling this trick of disaster.
Man, this is weird shit.
terry says
Ashley- could have been a ploy- (going to the FBI) and possibly used it if he did commit a crime (like choking his girl friend-not sure which came first).
An alibi before needed.
gravenimage says
Dave, he had adopted a Muslim name and was producing Islamic religious music *before* he ever went to Iraq.
ele says
Anyone want to bet what the next gun control reg will be? Hint
“You never let a serious crisis go to waste…it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before. Rahm Emanuel
terry says
The ONE GUN CONTROL THAT I WANT TO SEE- NOBODY ON THE NO FLY LIST CAN OWN A GUN. (Trump agreed with that, and the NRA went bonkers).
(I would add nobody on a terror watch list could own a gun, also-although that could be misused).
Champ says
Last night while watching a live news conference a gentlemen (I think an FBI spokeman, not sure) said that while FBI were interviewing Santiago that he began acting “erratic”, and then local police were called in and they took him in for a mental health evaluation. The spokeman didn’t elaborate on what this “erratic” behavior was, so I could only imagine. Has anyone else learned more information on what his “erratic” behavior was?
Paul N Silas says
Wife was raised in Ft. Lauderdale, which is where we met and got married. Broward county has a very large Jewish population, which might explain this savage’s choice?
Ashley says
Link?
gravenimage says
Ashley, Paul means *his* wife, not the shooter’s.
And that part of Florida–Miami, Ft. Lauderdale–is indeed known for its large Jewish population.
Ashley says
My apologies Paul N Silas…
Thanks Graven…
gravenimage says
🙂
underbed cat says
The analysts may wonder how can you find someone who might be dangerous, they would literally have to walk into a FBI office and tell them…..oh yeah, he did tell them…..they just didn’t know isis was dangerous.
Then tracked muddy foot prints all the way to the destination. …not even on a fly list, unless he is Russian, patriotic or an islamophobe, a deplorable or a biker..so interesting they found the gun was to blame. Just an ordinary gunman…yeah right
Muhammad's Ghost says
He has a Salafi facial hair pattern:
Untrimmed beard, shaved mustache
Angemon says
Progress!
gravenimage says
Ha!
gravenimage says
Fort Lauderdale shooter “came here specifically” to attack, terrorism not ruled out
……………………..
“Terrorism not ruled out”? I guess that’s something…
Myxlplik says
Perhaps a little Jihad, but that is one of the words the FBI isn’t allowed to hear.
Phil Copson says
Point: What kind of an idiot do you have to be in this day and age after 1000s of jihadi attacks around the world, to allow a man with an Islamic beard, carrying no luggage but a loaded gun to pass unchallenged through the airport system ?
Question: laxness or collusion ?
Action: Expel the Mr G.Hardy’s of this world before they send Daryl Harb to the next.
gravenimage says
No–this is the norm. If someone checks luggage with a gun in it, it slips past security–at least as things stand now.
Barry Donnelly says
For some “Supposedly ” Mentally ILL , Individual; he sure seems to be Capable of Planning and Making Decisions and Travelling on his own . The truly “Mentally ILL” are the Media trying to convince us that this Perp. is not an Islamic Jihadi !
Champ says
Exactly!
My husband said he’s been planning this terrorist attack for quite some time and pretending to be *mentally ill* is part of his deceitful plan …and I agree with him!
It’s maddening that supposed mental health experts are falling for it …
somehistory says
There was a mobster boss in NY some years ago and the Feds were trying to get him. For several years, he pretended to be a mental case, faking amnesia, walking on the streets in bathrobe and slippers and drooling.
Several mental health *experts* claimed he was nuts.
But he was faking it all to stay out of prison while continuing to run his criminal enterprise. He did finally end up in prison and had to serve extra time for obstruction of justice.
Many so-called experts are fooled by those who fake mental illness.
gravenimage says
Champ, I think you are likely correct.
terry says
Not having read all of the preceding comments, my observation why the FBI is changing to possible (or probably) terrorism.
In two weeks, there will be a new administration that is willing to call a spade a spade. And, the agents) who say Islamic terrorism will not have to worry about being terminated or worse.
My opinion