DONATE

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Looking at Esteban Santiago – Ft. Lauderdale Massacre


John R. Houk
© January 10, 2017

On January 6, 2017 Esteban Santiago began randomly shooting at peoples’ head strolling through the luggage area at a Ft. Lauderdale, FL airport.



My first thought was that the incident was another Islamic terrorist. Then I heard the perpetrator had a Hispanic name, ergo he might be upset with Trump’s campaign to solidify the security of the southern border. Then I heard Santiago was a National Guard vet that had experienced combat, thus the airport shooting might have been PTSD related.

Alas, as of this writing, all my speculations are on the table because Santiago’s jailers have not shared the conclusive motive. At this point we bloggers and readers are left to make educated guesses based on the data discovered by media journalists and enterprising investigative bloggers.

Here are some articles and/or excerpts for you to build a motive.

JRH 1/10/17
*******************
Fort Lauderdale Gunman Said He Was “FORCED TO FIGHT FOR ISIS”

January 6, 2017

Ft. Lauderdale shooter was posting on jihadi forums when he was 17 years old in 2007. That twitter account, @Esteban00903, is now closed.

Law Enforcement sources told CBSNews that in Nov. 2016, he walked into an FBI office in Anchorage, AK claiming he was being forced to fight for ISIS

The Fort Lauderdale gunman was known to the FBI for four months prior to this massacre.

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport has been shutdown after a shooting that left five people dead. Broward Sheriff’s deputies are working with the FBI, trying to figure a motive for the shooting.

Broward Commissioner Chip LaMarca told CBS4 the shooter was a passenger on a Canadian flight with a checked gun. He says the shooter claimed his bag at the baggage claim area then took the gun from his bag before going into a bathroom and loading his weapon. He then reportedly came out of the bathroom and began shooting people in the baggage claim area.

Law Enforcement sources told CBSNews that in Nov. 2016, he walked into an FBI office in Anchorage, AK claiming he was being forced to fight for ISIS but was sent to a psychiatric hospital after Anchorage police were called. In 2011 or 2012, he was investigated for child porn. Three weapons and a computer were seized but there was not enough evidence to prosecute.

Air Canada took to Twitter to deny they had the accused gunman on the flight saying, “We confirm we have no record of a passenger by the name Esteban Santiago, or checked guns, on any of our flights to Fort Lauderdale.”

A law enforcement source identifies the accused shooter as Esteban Santiago Ruiz, 26, of New Jersey. Sources say he had a concealed weapons permit on him. The source added he had a minor criminal history.



Is ISIS Behind the Fort Lauderdale Airport Shooting?

Heavy, January 6, 2017 Updated 3:51 pm EST, January 6, 2017 1 Comment By S.J. Prince

Is the Islamic State the motivator for Esteban Santiago, the alleged gunman of today’s attack at the baggage claim area of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport in Florida?


Is it the Islamic State? As of now it is unconfirmed, but comparisons are being made of today’s attack to the summer 2016 attack on Ataturk Airport in Turkey. On June 28, three suicide bombers killed 45 people and injured more than 230. However, ISIS never officially claimed the attack, reports CNN.

 It can also be noted that after today’s shooting, ISIS terrorist channels knew Esteban’s name before some news corporations reported it. A U.S. senator gave Esteban’s name out live on MSNBC. It is unclear if ISIS channels spread his name before MSNBC. Esteban is now in custody.

If claimed, the attack would be the second ISIS attack this year, with READ ENTIRETY 

+++
Fort Lauderdale Airport shooter had told FBI he was forced to fight for the Islamic State

JANUARY 6, 2017 9:47 PM

And here he is in a photograph making the one-finger sign that signifies belief in the Islamic concept of tawhid, the absolute unity of the godhead.


He does appear to be mentally ill, and so of course the establishment propaganda media is treating as if it were solely a matter of a man who had mental health problems and snapped. But there is no reason to hold to a hard-and-fast either/or in this case or other cases where jihadis have been described as mentally ill. As Hugh Fitzgerald has often noted, Islam attracts the psychically marginal, as it provides both a justification and a purpose for their rage and bloodlust. The jury is still out on Esteban Santiago, and we may never know the whole story if he is a jihadi, since so many people are so intent on concealing such facts, but in any case there is strong reason to believe that there is a jihad component here.

And why wasn’t the FBI watching him, when he told them he was ISIS? Maybe they also assumed he was insane, or they didn’t care to pursue such matters while Obama was busying downplaying the Islamic State threat, or there are simply too many young men out there like Esteban Santiago. And more are arriving all the time.

“Fort Lauderdale Airport shooting suspect Esteban Santiago-Ruiz ‘told FBI he was forced to fight for ISIS,'” by  READ ENTIRETY

+++
Federal prosecutors file charges against Santiago, he could face the death penalty

January 08, 2017

The suspected killer in the Ft. Lauderdale rampage, 26-year-old Esteban Santiago, was charged on Saturday with performing an act of violence at an airport, which could earn him the death penalty if he is convicted.

Santiago was charged with an act of violence at an international airport resulting in death and weapons charges.

Earlier, the FBI announced that Santiago apparently traveled to the airport for the purpose of carrying out the bloody rampage.

Santiago told investigators that he planned the attack, buying a one-way ticket to the Fort Lauderdale airport, a federal complaint said. Authorities don't know why he chose his target and have not ruled out terrorism.

Terrorism may have been a "potential motivation" for the attack on Friday that killed five people, Special Agent in Charge George Piro said during a news conference.

Later in the afternoon, police in Alaska said they had returned a handgun to the Florida airport shooting suspect which was temporarily taken from him when he underwent a mental evaluation late last year, according to a Reuters report.

Anchorage Police Chief Christopher Tolley said it was not immediately clear if it was the same gun used in Friday's deadly rampage. Officials told a news conference the gun was returned to the suspect because the Iraq war veteran had not committed a crime.

Why the gunman may have chosen South Florida was unclear. He had no clear connection to the state aside from relatives in the Naples area, a two-hour drive away, the Sun Sentinel reported.


The suspected shooter had a history of mental health problems -- some of which followed his military service in Iraq -- and was receiving psychological treatment at his home in Alaska, his relatives said.

FBI investigators questioned Santiago for hours. Piro said investigators were scouring the 26-year-old suspect's social media footprint and looking into where he'd traveled before.

Santiago was not on any no-fly list, according to the FBI. He allegedly carried out the attack with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, Piro added.



"Only thing I could tell you was when he came out of Iraq, he wasn't feeling too good," Santiago's uncle, Hernan Rivera, told The Record newspaper.

Santiago deployed in 2010 as part of the Puerto Rico National Guard, spending a year with an engineering battalion, according to Guard spokesman Maj. Paul Dahlen.

In recent years, Santiago -- a new dad, family said -- had been living in Anchorage, Alaska, his brother, Bryan Santiago, told The Associated Press from Puerto Rico. Bryan Santiago said his brother's girlfriend had recently called the family to alert them to his treatment.

In November, Esteban told FBI agents in Alaska that the government was controlling his mind and was forcing him to watch Islamic State group videos, a law enforcement official said. The official was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation by name and spoke Friday on condition of anonymity.

The FBI agents notified the police after the interview with Esteban Santiago, who took him in for a mental health evaluation.


Esteban Santiago was born in New Jersey but moved to Puerto Rico when he was 2, his brother said. He grew up in the southern coastal town of Penuelas before joining the Guard in 2007.

Former neighbor Ursula Candelario recalled seeing Esteban Santiago grow up and said people used to salute him after he joined the Guard. "He was very peaceful, very educated, very serious," she said. "We're in shock. I couldn't believe it," said Candelario.

While in Iraq, Santiago cleared roads of improvised explosive devices and at least two members of his company were killed, spokesman Lt. Col. Candis Olmstead told The New York Times. He was awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation.

Since returning from Iraq, Santiago served in the Army Reserves and the Alaska National Guard in Anchorage, Olmstead told the AP. He was serving as a combat engineer in the Guard before his discharge for "unsatisfactory performance," said Lt. Col. Candis Olmstead, a spokeswoman. His military rank upon discharge was E3, private 1st class, and he worked one weekend a month with an additional 15 days of training yearly, Olmstead said.

She would not elaborate on his discharge, but the Pentagon said he went AWOL several times and was demoted and discharged.

Still, he'd had some successes during his military career, being awarded a number of medals and commendations including the Iraq Campaign Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.


"It was like he lost his mind," she said in Spanish of his return from Iraq. "He said he saw things."


Santiago was charged in a domestic violence case in January 2016, damaging a door when he forced his way into a bathroom at his girlfriend's Anchorage home. The woman told officers he yelled at her to leave, choked her and smacked her on the side of the head, according to charging documents.

A month later municipal prosecutors said he violated the conditions of his release when officers found him at her home during a routine check. He told police he had lived there since he was released from custody the previous month. His Anchorage attorney, Max Holmquist, declined to discuss his client.


+++
WHO GAVE AIRPORT SHOOTER GUN BACK ... TWICE?
You won't believe the 'warning shots' fired before attack

By January 7, 2017
WND EXCLUSIVE

WASHINGTON – The case of Esteban Santiago, the 26-year-old shooter in the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport massacre, gets stranger by the minute.

He flew from Alaska without checking any bags, other than the hard gun case he collected in baggage claim and opened to kill five people while wounding six others.

He was already being prosecuted for attacking his girlfriend and attempting to strangle her. He even broke the terms of his release on that charge by entering her home again. But he was allowed to keep his gun.

The FBI interviewed him in November after his employer in Alaska expressed concerns about things he was saying. He reportedly told the FBI he was being forced by the CIA to fight for ISIS. While being evaluated, the FBI took his gun. But they released him and gave it back after a psychiatric investigation that called for no followup and no medication.

He served in Iraq for the Army Reserves and the Alaska National Guard but was discharged for “unsatisfactory performance.”

He registered on MySpace under the name “Aashiq Hammad” and recorded Islamic religious music on the site three years before he ever deployed to Iraq. In 2007 he was posting on an explosives and weapons forum about mass-downloading Islamic terrorist propaganda videos. He also downloaded three songs – one of them titled “La ilaha illAllah,” which is Arabic for “There is no God but Allah” – the first half of the Muslim declaration of faith, the Shahadah. He lived within walking distance of Alaska’s only mosque.


Investigators say he was planning the attack for some time – selling his possessions, including his car, and posting comments that, authorities say, indicate an extended period of preparation.


As a result of sheer federal governmental incompetence, once again, Santiago AKA Asshiq Hammad, was able to kill five and injure 6 in a shooting attack at the Florida airport Friday after all those “warning shots.”

Santiago emptied three magazines from his pistol, and then police ordered him to sit down, which he did. Police never fired a shot.

He was READ ENTIRETY

+++
Florida airport shooting suspect Esteban Santiago appears in federal court



By Reuters
9 January 2017 13.36 EST


He [Esteban Santiago] has admitted to investigators that he planned Friday’s attack at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood international airport and bought a one-way ticket from his home in Alaska to carry it out, according to a criminal complaint.

Authorities say they have not ruled out terrorism as a motive and that they are investigating whether mental illness played a role. In November, Santiago went to an FBI office in Anchorage and told agents he believed US spies were controlling his mind.

Santiago spoke little during the hearing, confirming to the US magistrate judge, Alicia Valle, that he understood the charges, and that he was a US citizen. He said he did not have his own lawyer, and he was assigned a federal public defender.

Asked about his employment, Santiago said that for the last couple of years he had worked in Anchorage for a company called Signal 88 Security, earning about $2,000 a month. He told the court he had only $5 to $10 in his bank account.

Prosecutors called for Santiago, who is being held at the Broward County jail in Fort Lauderdale, to be denied bail, and Valle scheduled a 17 January hearing to discuss the request. Legal experts have said it is very unlikely he will be released.


Anchorage’s police chief told reporters on Saturday that Santiago reported at the time having “terroristic thoughts” and believed he was being influenced by the Islamic State militant group.


Santiago served from 2007 to 2016 in the Puerto Rico and Alaska national guards, including a deployment to Iraq from 2010 to 2011, according to the Pentagon. Relatives have said he has acted erratically since returning from Iraq.

The attack was the latest in a recent series of mass shootings in READ ENTIRETY

+++
Florida airport shooting suspect Esteban Santiago told maximum penalty is death

By Paula McMahon of Sun Sentinel
January 9, 2017 1:45 PM

In court, Santiago did not say anything about his alleged motive or why he came to South Florida.

He also said nothing, in court, about his mental health or psychiatric diagnosis.

But Santiago told authorities, after his arrest, that doctors told him he may have schizophrenia, sources told the Sun Sentinel.

He said he was told that in November during a mental health evalution [sic] he underwent after he sought help from the FBI office in Anchorage, Alaska, the sources said.

People with schizophrenia may "lose touch" with some aspects of reality, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Other possible symptoms include hallucinations, delusions and unusual or dysfunctional ways of thinking.

Agents said he reported that he was having terroristic thoughts, believed the government was controlling his mind and pushing him to watch Islamic State group propaganda videos.


Santiago was briefly hospitalized in November after he walked into the FBI office in Anchorage and asked for help, authorities said. He told agents the U.S. government was controlling his mind and forcing him to watch Islamic State propaganda videos, investigators said.

Authorities initially said he had left his 2-month-old baby son and a gun in his vehicle outside the office and brought in a magazine that contained ammunition. They later clarified that the infant was safely in the care of the FBI. The infant's mother was called to take custody of the baby and local police seized his gun and took him to a local psychiatric hospital for treatment, they said.

Santiago's gun was returned to him on Dec. 8, less than one month before the bloodshed in Fort Lauderdale, investigators said.

Santiago was discharged from the National Guard last year after being demoted for unsatisfactory performance.

Family members said he was hearing voices and was severely affected by seeing a bomb explode near two of his friends when he served in Iraq. READ ENTIRETY

+++
Of Interest


Esteban Santiago: Gritty life on the Alaska streets – Sun Sentinel, 1/8/17 11:01 PM


No comments:

Post a Comment