Fort Lauderdale 'chosen by suspect' for airport attack
The suspect in
Florida's deadly airport shooting travelled to Fort Lauderdale specifically to
carry out the attack, authorities say.
George Piro, the FBI
agent in charge of the investigation, said that Esteban Santiago, 26, had been
questioned at length overnight.
Five people died in
the attack and eight were wounded.
Authorities say Mr
Santiago, an Iraq war veteran, opened fire after flying from Alaska with a gun
in his luggage.
There was no sign of
any altercation on the flight or at the airport before the attack began, Mr
Piro said.
Federal charges have
been filed against Mr Santiago and they should be outlined in detail later on
Saturday.
Mr Piro said: "We
continue to look at all avenues and all motives for this horrific attack. We
are continuing to look at the terrorism angle in regards to the potential
motivation."
He served in Iraq from April 2010 to February 2011, and ended his service in
August 2016.
US
media reported that he had received a general discharge from the Alaska
National Guard for unsatisfactory performance.
His brother said he
had been receiving psychological treatment recently.
His aunt told a local newspaper he had "lost his mind" while
serving in Iraq.
He
reportedly told police after the attack that the government was controlling his
mind and made him watch jihadist videos.
One of the victims
of the attack was reportedly a woman from Atlanta. The devout Catholic, Olga
Woltering, was named by her church, the Catholic Church of the Transfiguration.
Another
victim, 57-year-old Iowa man Michael Oehme, was named by his sister, Elizabeth
Oehme-Miller.
Fort
Lauderdale Airport reopened on Saturday but Terminal 2, where the shootings
happened, remains closed.
Airport
officials say they still have 20,000 items of luggage to return to their
owners.
A tweet from the airport account said this was a "complex and
time-consuming process". When the gunman opened fire, many people rushed
out on to the tarmac.
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