- A 26-year-old US Army veteran opened fire inside Fort Lauderdale International Airport
- Eight people were injured while five were killed during the incident
- The shooter was arrested unharmed and is being questioned by the FBI
- The airport has been closed down
The gunman who killed five people at a Florida airport walked calmly through the baggage claim area before wordlessly pulling a handgun from his waistband and shooting at victims who fled or dived to the floor in panic, a new video showed.
The 20 seconds of footage published on Saturday by website TMZ, apparently from a security camera, shows the suspect carrying a bag and clothing in his left hand as he strolled with other passengers past luggage carousels at Fort Lauderdale's airport.
Without warning, he pulls out a 9mm semi-automatic handgun with his right hand and fires it repeatedly at targets off-screen. Travelers nearby can be seen reacting in horror and scrambling for cover as the shots ring out.
TMZ did not say how it obtained the video. It said it had chosen to show only the seconds leading up to the first shots fired "and the panic that ensued."
FBI Sent Santiago To A Mental Institution in November
In November, Santiago turned up at a FBI office in Anchorage and told agents that his mind was being controlled by a US intelligence agency, which was ordering him to watch Islamic State videos, a federal law enforcement official told Reuters.
He was then sent to a mental hospital and a subsequent investigation turned up no evidence that he had connections to any foreign terrorist organisation.
No Canadian Connection
The suspect did not fly from Canada and was not on a Canadian flight, said a spokeswoman for the Canadian embassy in Washington.
“There is no Canadian connection,” said Christine Constantin. Citing US officials, she said the suspect had flown from Anchorage, Alaska to Fort Lauderdale via Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Shooter Identified
The shooter has been identified as Esteban Santiago. The 26-year-old, born in New Jersey, was an Army National Guard veteran who served in Iraq. According to his brother, he had been receiving psychological treatment recently.
Santiago served from 2007 to 2016 in the Puerto Rico National Guard and Alaska National Guard, including a deployment to Iraq from 2010 to 2011, according to the Pentagon.
His aunt told the Record that her nephew had recently become a father and was struggling with the role.
“It was like he lost his mind,” she said of his return from Iraq. “He said he saw things.”
A private first class and combat engineer, he received half-a-dozen medals before being transferred to the inactive ready reserve in August last year.
He had arrived on a flight from Canada with a checked gun in his bag, Broward County Commissioner Chip LaMarca said on Twitter. He claimed his bag and went to the bathroom to load the gun before coming out and firing, LaMarca said.
