Five dead, 8 injured in Fort Lauderdale airport shooting

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A lone shooter opened fire at the Fort Lauderdale international airport in Florida Friday, killing five people and injuring eight before he was taken into custody, officials said. 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.

Authorities have not yet released a motive for the shooting inside Terminal 2, which serves Delta Air Lines and Air Canada.

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office cited multiple deaths on its Twitter account, and Gov. Rick Scott was headed to the airport for a briefing by law enforcement.

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

Lee 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.”

Then the gunman 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 Broward 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.

Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida identified the gunman as Esteban Santiago and said that he was carrying a military ID, but that it was unclear whether it was his.

“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.”

Nelson also said Santiago had a military ID. “We don’t know if it is current, but every time you get a bunch of people like at baggage claim or like outside of TSA (Transportation Security Administration) where you’re going to security or lines at the ticket counter, it’s a soft target,” he said.

News stations showed video of medics taking care of a bleeding victim outside the airport. News helicopters showed hundreds of people standing on the tarmac as an ambulance drove by.

Mayor Barbara Sharief said the gunman appeared to have acted alone.

“He was a lone shooter, and we have no evidence at this time that he was acting with anyone else. He is in custody, and we are currently investigating,” Sharief told CNN.

President-elect Donald Trump said he had just spoken with Scott, and was “monitoring the terrible situation in Florida.”

“Thoughts and prayers for all. Stay safe!” he tweeted.

Fort Lauderdale is a major tourist hub and beach resort in the greater Miami area.

Cellphone video footage broadcast by local Fox television affiliate Channel 7 showed one person lying blooded on the floor, and several others on their knees.

Jillian Saunders, from Palm Beach, Florida, told The Associated Press in direct Twitter messages that she was watching the activity from the tarmac in a plane scheduled to fly to Los Angeles.

“Everything you see on the news is happening outside my window,” she said. “I am luckily on the plane and they said we are right now the safest people at the airport.”