Image of Fort Lauderdale Int'l Airport shooting suspect Esteban Santiago, law enforcement sources confirm: https://t.co/P6DXgTIdbYpic.twitter.com/e5UP9NEoqX
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 6, 2017
Pic from closed Twitter acct (@Esteban00903) of a 26 y/o #EstebanSantiago w ties to both Anchorage and Naples. NEEDS VERIFICATION! pic.twitter.com/aGRi0p10Eb
— allengwinn (@allengwinn) January 6, 2017
Details are still emerging about airport shooter Esteban Santiago-Ruiz. His shooting spree at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport has claimed 5 lives and wounded 8 more people.
This is a developing story so we will likely know a lot more by the evening and by the next day than we do today. The above photo has been circulating on social media, for example. It may be that of the gunman.
The media is rolling with the usual "mental illness" narrative. This is the same excuse often used for Islamic terrorists. There's no proven connection to Islam yet, except this particular part of his background.
Law enforcement said he was found with an active military ID and is an American citizen, born in New Jersey. Previous known addresses include Penuelas, Puerto Rico and Anchorage, Alaska.
They add that in November 2016, he walked into an FBI office in Anchorage claiming that he was being forced to fight for ISIS. He was sent to a psychiatric hospital.
In 2011 or 2012, he was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations for child porn. Three weapons and a computer were seized, but there was not enough evidence to prosecute, according to law enforcement sources.
It's possible that he is mentally ill. It's possible that he's a Muslim terrorist. Or both. Or neither.