Alaska man pleads guilty in Florida airport shooting
MIAMI — An Alaska man pleaded guilty Wednesday in exchange for a life prison sentence in the Florida airport shooting that killed five people and wounded six, blaming his rampage on severe mental illness a psychologist said is now under control.
Esteban Santiago, 28, pleaded guilty to 11 charges stemming from the January 2017 attack. Santiago, of Anchorage, Alaska, admitted he opened fire with a handgun in a baggage area at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. He was diagnosed as schizophrenic after his arrest but was found competent for the legal proceedings.
U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom asked Santiago why he did what he did. Santiago initially told the FBI after the shooting that he believed he was under some form of government mind control, before switching to unfounded claims he acted in support of the Islamic State extremist group.
“Um, I don’t know. I wasn’t really thinking about it at the moment,” he told the judge Wednesday. “A lot of things were going on in my mind. Messages.”