FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A day before the suspect in the Fort Lauderdale airport rampage was to appear in court, a website released footage that appears to show him calmly drawing a pistol and opening fire in the baggage claim area.
[INTERACTIVE: Airport map, traffic details, history of attacks]
The video recording posted on TMZ's website appears to show Esteban Santiago walking through the baggage claim area of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Friday, pulling a handgun from his waistband and then firing several times before running.
Santiago, 26, is accused of killing five travelers and wounding six others in the attack. He was charged Saturday with an act of violence at an international airport resulting in death -- which carries a maximum punishment of execution -- and weapons charges. His first court hearing is today.
The FBI said in an email that it was aware of the video but would not comment on its authenticity. TMZ did not say where it obtained the video, although it appears to be from a surveillance camera.
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.
Investigators are combing social media and other information to determine Santiago's motive, and it's too early to say whether terrorism played a role, FBI Agent George Piro said. In November, Santiago had walked into an FBI field office in Alaska saying the U.S. government was controlling his mind and forcing him to watch videos from the Islamic State extremist group, authorities said.
Santiago had been discharged from the National Guard last year after being demoted for unsatisfactory performance.
Bryan Santiago said Saturday that his brother had requested psychological help but received little assistance. Esteban Santiago said in August that he was hearing voices.
"How is it possible that the federal government knows, they hospitalize him for only four days, and then give him his weapon back?" Bryan Santiago said.
His mother in Puerto Rico declined comment, other than to say Esteban Santiago had been affected by seeing a bomb explode next to two of his friends when he was around 18 years old while serving in Iraq.
Airport chaos
Friday afternoon's shooting in the baggage claim area of Terminal 2 at the Fort Lauderdale airport caused people in the surrounding area to drop their items and run for safety.
The airport spokesman said that in the commotion, 25,000 pieces of luggage, cellphones and other belongings were separated from their owners.
Greg Meyer said most bags won't be available until today. The airport hired an outside firm to collect discarded bags and sort them by where they were found so they can be identified by their owners. Those with lost luggage were told to call a toll-free number. But there were exceptions as airport officials scrambled to work with individuals.
Dan and Janice Kovacs and their two children were among those who fled. They were going through airport security when the gunfire broke out, so their shoes, wallets, passports and carry-on items were left on a conveyer belt.
"We have no IDs, we have no passports, no money," Janice Kovacs, 39, said, wearing sandals borrowed from a brother-in-law. "We just had to leave our stuff and run."
"All our stuff is being processed. We might not even get that until [today]. I have an 11-year-old who is freaking out. This has been traumatic for her."
The shooting also stranded about 12,000 outgoing and incoming travelers, many returning from cruises or arriving ahead of the usual Saturday departures of the ships based in the tourism hub's Port Everglades terminal. Some travelers were kept on planes for more than seven hours while police put the airport on lockdown; others scrambled to protected corners or were hustled out onto the tarmac.
The Florida Highway Patrol sent computer-equipped buses to the airport Saturday afternoon to issue temporary ID cards to help travelers get out of state and even abroad. "We are doing what we can to help," Sgt. Mark Wysocki said.
Gov. Rick Scott said cruise ship companies were asked to accept travelers with provisional IDs. Once authorities began allowing travelers to depart the airport Friday evening, buses took thousands of them to the cruise terminal.
Larry Edwards, a retired electric lineman, said his family won't be able to get home until today and pointed to the clothes they had put on Friday morning.
"All we have is this and our smelly selves," he said.
Victims remembered
While an official list of victims had not been released by early Sunday, family and friends of some of the victims confirmed their identities and shared their stories.
Shirley Timmons of Ohio was killed and her husband critically injured during the attack. The couple had flown to Fort Lauderdale on Friday to join the rest of their family for a cruise.
Timmons' grandson Steve Reineccius confirmed over Facebook that his grandmother was one of the victims and that his grandfather Steve Timmons was wounded. They were both 70 years old. The couple's 51st wedding anniversary was in three weeks. They're from Senecaville, about 90 miles east of Columbus.
In Virginia Beach, Va., Jessica Winbauer confirmed that Terry Andres, a neighbor, was also among the victims. Winbauer texted Andres and his wife, Ann, after hearing about the shooting.
"She texted me back about an hour and a half later saying 'Please call me,'" Winbauer said of Ann Andres.
When Winbauer called Ann Andres, "she was alone sitting in a car where they had shuffled her, I guess," Winbauer said. "It was horrible."
At the Catholic Church of the Transfiguration in Cobb County, Ga., parishioners remembered Olga Woltering as "the life of the party."
"She was always a bright spirit," Ron Schaefer said. "We'd see her at church, and it was always a pleasure to see her smiling face and say hello to her."
Over the weekend, the church members circulated news of her death. Parishioners said she was in her 80s, but no exact age was given. She and her husband had been an active part of their congregation since 1978.
In Council Bluffs, Iowa, Michael Oehme, a 57-year-old land surveyor, was remembered as a frequent traveler who loved to go on cruises with his wife. The couple were about to head out to sea again, his sister said.
"They were happy to be going on another trip," Elizabeth Oehme-Miller, 52, said.
Oehme's wife, Kari Oehme, is hospitalized with injuries from a gunshot wound in her shoulder and is expected to recover, her sister-in-law said.
Oehme-Miller said she learned about the couple through a text message from her daughter.
"I still can't believe it's true," Oehme-Miller said. "It hasn't hit yet. I'm kind of in shock right now."
Information for this article was contributed by Becky Bohrer, Rachel D'Oro, Mark Thiesse, Jason Dearen, Lolita C. Baldor, Eric Tucker, Tamara Lush, Jeff Martin, Ben Finley, David Pitt, Kelli Kennedy and Terry Spencer of The Associated Press.
A Section on 01/09/2017