According to court papers, Santiago told agents he planned the attack and bought a one-way ticket from Anchorage to Florida.
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Santiago told Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in Alaska that the Government was forcing him to watch Islamic State group videos, a law enforcement official said.
His relatives said he had a history of mental health problems especially after returning from Iraq and received psychological treatment past year.
Timmons’ grandson Steve Reineccius confirmed over Facebook that his grandmother was one of the victims and that his grandfather Steve Timmons was wounded.
Law enforcement sources told CBS News he traveled from Alaska to Minnesota and then from Minnesota to Florida.
The Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport re-opened for commercial flights at 05:00 local time (10:00 GMT) on Saturday, 16 hours after the attack.
Santiago-Ruiz’s brother in Puerto Rico said the suspected shooter had been recently receiving psychological treatment while living in Alaska.
His mother said Esteban had been tremendously affected by seeing a bomb explode next to two of his friends during a one-year tour of Iraq when he was about 18 years old.
Five people were killed and eight injured in a shooting at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida on Friday, according to a tweet by the Broward County Sheriff’s Department.
The suspected gunman in an airport shooting rampage in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
He was in the airport’s Delta Sky Club awaiting a flight to NY when an airport worker came running through the lounge, he said in a phone interview. He loaded up in a bathroom and before blasting at random travelers at the baggage claim.
“I don’t know why this happened”, she said during an interview at her Union City home Friday afternoon.
He had arrived in Fort Lauderdale aboard a Delta flight from Anchorage, Alaska, where the only piece of luggage he checked was his gun, Anchorage airport police chief Jesse Davis told the AP.
“As far as I know this is not a person that would have been prohibited from having a gun” USA attorney for Alaska Karen Loeffler reportedly said.
Authorities have not yet released a motive for the shooting.
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“We are continuing to look at the terrorism angle as a potential motivation. We can’t conclude that”. “The only gun shots fired at any time during this horrific incident have been downstairs at Terminal 2”, said Israel.
