Fort Lauderdale Airport Shooting Leaves Multiple People Dead

A gunman opened fire in the baggage claim area at the Fort Lauderdale airport Friday, killing five people and wounding eight before being taken into custody in an attack that sent panicked passengers running out of the terminal and onto the tarmac, authorities said.

The gunman was identified as Esteban Santiago-Ruiz, 26, who had active-duty military identification on him and was born in New Jersey, law enforcement sources told CBS News.

In Nov. 2016, Santiago-Ruiz walked into an FBI office in Anchorage and claimed he was being forced to fight for ISIS, law enforcement sources told CBS News. He was sent to a psychiatric hospital after police were called, sources said. 

He was also investigated as part of a child porn investigation in either 2011 or 2012, law enforcement sources told CBS News. Three weapons and a computer were seized, but no charges were filed, sources said. 

Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida said it was unclear whether the military ID was the gunman’s.

“We don’t know a motive at this point,” Nelson said. “This could well be someone who is mentally deranged, or in fact it could be someone who had a much more sinister motive that we have to worry about every day, and that is terrorism. We can’t conclude that.”

Nearly an hour after the sheriff’s office said a suspect was in custody, people started running across the tarmac, CBS Miami station WFOR-TV reports. Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters there was no confirmation of any additional shooting.

“At this point it looks like he acted alone,” Israel said.

A witness, Mark Lea, told MSNBC: “People started kind of screaming and trying to get out of any door they could or hide under the chairs. He just kind of continued coming in, just randomly shooting at people, no rhyme or reason to it.”

Then the attacker threw down his weapon and lay spread-eagle on the ground until he was taken into custody, Lea said.

Chip LaMarca, a Broward County commissioner, was briefed on the airport shooting by the sheriff’s office. He told The Associated Press that the shooter had arrived in Fort Lauderdale aboard a Canadian flight with a gun in a checked bag.

“After he claimed his bag, he went into the bathroom and loaded the gun and started shooting. We don’t know why,” LaMarca said.

It is legal for airline passengers to carry guns and ammunition as long as the firearms are put in a checked bag - not in a carry-on - and are unloaded and locked in a hard-sided container. Guns must be declared to the airline at check-in.

Air Canada said that it had no record of the suspect as a passenger or of checked guns on its flights to Fort Lauderdale. Delta did not comment if the suspect took one of their flights, but issued a statement to CBS News that the airline is cooperating with the investigation. 

“Specially trained Delta Care Team members have been activated and are traveling to Fort Lauderdale to assist families and friends of customers and employees who may have been impacted by the shooting at the Fort Lauderdale International Airport,” Delta wrote in a statement. 

President Obama was briefed by his homeland security adviser, the White House said.

The attack took place at Terminal 2, which serves Delta Air Lines and Air Canada.

Lea said the gunman said nothing as he “went up and down the carousels of the baggage claim, shooting through luggage to get at people that were hiding.” The killer had a handgun and went through about three magazines of ammunition, Lea said.

Israel said five people were killed and eight were wounded. Their condition was not disclosed. He said the gunman was arrested unharmed, with no law enforcement officers firing any shots, and was being questioned by the FBI.

The sheriff urged people to not call 911 for information about the shooting. Facebook enabled its safety check feature so users could report their status on the social media platform.

The airport suspended operations as law enforcement authorities rushed to the scene and emergency medical workers treated at least one bleeding victim on the tarmac.

People spilled onto the tarmac, some carrying luggage, and some ran from both Terminals 1 and 2, hiding behind cars or anything else they could find to shield themselves.

Video posted on Instagram appeared to show several people wounded in the baggage claim area of the terminal. One person appeared to be lying in a pool of blood with a head wound.

Paramedics could also be seen treating a bleeding victim outside the airport. Hundreds of people stood on the tarmac as an ambulance drove by.

Flights already in the air and headed for the airport were delayed or diverted, and those that had yet to take off for Fort Lauderdale were held on the ground.

John Schilcher told Fox News said he came up to the baggage claim and heard the first gunshot as he picked up his bag off a carousel.

“The person next to me fell to the ground and then I started hearing other pops. And as this happened, other people started falling and you could hear it and smell it, and people on either side of me were going down and I just dropped to the ground,” said Schilcher, who was there with his wife and mother-in-law.

“The firing just went on and on,” he said.

He said the gunman emptied his weapon and reloaded, and “it was eerily quiet.”

“I was down on the floor, when we finally looked up there was a policeman standing over me,” Schilcher said. “That’s when I assumed it was safe.”

Former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer tweeted that he was at the airport when shots were fired and “everyone is running.”

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