Police said a lone gunman opened fire Friday at the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, international airport, killing five people in a brief shooting rampage that sent several others to the hospital.
The bloody attack at a quiet baggage claim sent people scrambling through the terminals and across the airfield at one of the country’s busiest airports, shutting down all flights while paramedics and federal and local law enforcement officers flooded the scene.
The suspected shooter is in custody, and it appeared he acted alone, said Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel. In addition to the people slain, eight others were brought to area hospitals, though police declined to elaborate on their conditions and have not said whether all were injured by gunfire.
“Right now this scene is considered fluid and active,” Israel said during a news briefing on Friday afternoon at the airport, which is operated by Broward County.
Police did not immediately identify a motive for the shooting at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which they said occurred just before 1 p.m. The gunman, who has not been officially identified, was taken into custody without any incident “almost immediately after the shootings,” Israel said.
“He’s unharmed,” Israel said. “No law enforcement fired any shots.”
The man in custody was identified by officials as Esteban Santiago. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., publicly identified the shooter as Santiago after being told the name by the head of the Transportation Security Administration, according to Ryan Brown, a spokesman for the senator. A federal law enforcement official also confirmed the name to The Washington Post.
Santiago, 26, was carrying an Army ID, according to three federal law enforcement officials.
He was a passenger on a flight traveling with a checked gun in his baggage, according to federal law enforcement officials, who asked to speak on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation. The officials said that Santiago had picked up his bag and took the gun into the bathroom to load it before returning to the baggage claim area to begin firing at people.
Santiago is a U.S. citizen with ties to New Jersey, according to two federal officials, but other details of his background did not immediately come into focus Friday afternoon.
Another flurry of nervous activity erupted at the airport later Friday afternoon when there were reports of additional gunfire, but Israel said there was no evidence of a second shooting. Police had said shortly before 3 p.m. that they were searching the airport following “unconfirmed reports” of additional gunfire, but Israel said there was “no second active shooter” and no additional victims.
The FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the airport Friday, as did officials from Fort Lauderdale, the state Department of Law Enforcement and other agencies.
Police and FBI agents were interviewing the suspected gunman Friday afternoon, according to law enforcement officials.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, no possible motivation occurred for this latest spasm of gun violence on a crowded, public place. George L. Piro, the FBI Special Agent in charge of the bureau’s Miami division, said federal authorities were aiding local law enforcement “until we make a determination on the nature and motive of this.”
A federal law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said that the gunman did not appear to say anything during his first interactions with police suggesting a political or terrorism-related motive, though the official said it is still early in the process.
The shooting took place in the baggage claim at the airport’s Terminal 2, home to departures and arrivals for Delta and Air Canada, according to the airport.
Jay Cohen was dropped off at the airport for a flight, and he arrived after the gunfire had already stopped, finding an unusual scene at the usually bustling facility.
“The airport was like a ghost town,” Cohen, 51, a consultant, said in a telephone interview. “I didn’t see anyone around.”
It wasn’t until he walked all the way up to the Delta counter without encountering a line or a single soul that he noticed about 20 people huddled together behind a nearby concrete wall. He peeked over the counter and saw the Delta employees laying on the ground hands trying to cover their heads with their hands.
“Hurry up get behind here,” someone whispered to him. “Active shooter! Active shooter!”
As he looked around the terminal he previously thought was abandoned, he now could see people hiding under benches, squished up against windows. Then Cohen saw police running full speed through the terminal, some with guns drawn, others with their hands on their holsters, while other police cars began screaming up to the curb.
“It went from eerie quiet from when I walked in to pure mayhem in just minutes,” he said. “It was chaos.”
After the shooting, dozens of cars had pulled over onto the shoulder of nearby Interstate 595, as hundreds of people waited alongside the highway, family members and friends repeatedly trying to call loved ones who were scheduled to be on arriving flights.
Saintnatus Adition was pacing along the highway, police cars racing past with sirens blaring. His 71-year-old father had just landed from Haiti when the chaos began. “He called and said it got very busy all of the sudden,” Adition said. He’s been frantically calling him to find out if he’s okay, but now he can’t reach him. “Of course I am very scared,” Adition said. “He is very old.”
All flights were suspended in the wake of the shooting before 1 p.m., and the airport was closed, airport officials said. The airport posted on Twitter about “an ongoing incident” at the baggage claims in one of the terminals, but did not provide further information. Airport representatives could not be immediately reached for further comment.
Officials at other major airports across the country, including those in Los Angeles and Chicago, said they were beefing up security in response to the shooting in Florida.
President Obama was briefed on the situation at Fort Lauderdale on Friday afternoon and will be updated as new information is available, according to Ned Price, spokesman for the National Security Council.
“We have our units on site and around the perimeter to provide assistance and support, and we remain ready, willing, and able to provide additional assistance, support and resources,” Fort Lauderdale Mayor John P. “Jack” Seller said in a statement. “Our community extends its thoughts, prayers, and support to the victims and their families.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said shortly after 3 p.m. that flights were not being allowed to head to or from Fort Lauderdale, with some planes being diverted elsewhere in Florida. All flights originally scheduled for Fort Lauderdale have been grounded, according to the agency.
At the time of the shooting, former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer posted on Twitter that he was at the airport and saw people running after gunshots were fired.
(c) 2017, The Washington Post ยท Mark Berman, William Wan
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