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Family: Shooting suspect ‘lost his mind’ after tour in Iraq — (CBS Miami)

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CBS Miami

January 7, 2017

[Note:  A decorated Iraq veteran, who “received half a dozen medals” before things started to come apart, came home “not feeling too good”, got psychiatric treatment, became extremely paranoid, possibly delusional, and after being hospitalized and released launched this attack.  What could the problem be?  What might make a “serious” and “normal” person (according to his brother) become like this?   Could it have been illegal, psychadelic drugs? Or perhaps legal, psychoactive drugs?  After all, in 2017, “psychiatric treatment” has become shorthand for psychiatric medication.  – SSRI stories Ed]

The man police say opened fire with a gun from his checked baggage at a Florida airport had a history of mental health issues — some of which followed his military service in Iraq — and was receiving psychological treatment at his current home in Alaska, his relatives said Friday after the deadly shooting.

“Only thing I could tell you was when he came out of Iraq, he wasn’t feeling too good,” his uncle, Hernan Rivera, told the Bergen Record newspaper (http://bit.ly/2j04ghF ) Esteban Santiago, 26, 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 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, but he didn’t have further details. He said his brother never spoke to him directly about his medical issues.”We have not talked for the past three weeks,” Bryan Santiago said. “That’s a bit unusual … I’m in shock. He was a serious person … He was a normal person.”Esteban Santiago was born in New Jersey but moved to Puerto Rico when he was 2, his brother said.

© Provided by thecanadianpress.com Since returning from Iraq, he had also served in the Army Reserves and the Alaska National Guard in Fairbanks. He was serving as a combat engineer in the Guard prior to his discharge for “unsatisfactory performance,” said Lt. Col. Candis Olmstead, a spokeswoman. She would not elaborate on his discharge.

His uncle and aunt in New Jersey were trying to make sense of what they were hearing about Santiago after his arrest at the Fort Lauderdale airport.

Maria Ruiz told the Record that her nephew had recently become a father and was struggling with the role.

“It was like he lost his mind,” she said of his return from Iraq. “He said he saw things.”

In Anchorage, police officers told reporters that they were interviewing people at an address for Santiago but wouldn’t give details and were keeping journalists away from the home.

Santiago was involved in a number of minor court cases while in Alaska, including fines for not having proof of insurance and a criminal mischief case that led to a deferred sentence. His attorney, Max Holmquist, declined to discuss his client with an Associated Press reporter.

Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Becky Bohrer in Anchorage, Alaska, contributed to this report.

 

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Fort Lauderdale gunman Esteban Santiago is a mentally ill Iraq war veteran — (Florida NewsGrio)

Nelly Carter

07/01/2017 03:59:00

By Emily Crane and Ashley Collman For Dailymail.com and Associated Press

Published: 21:01 EST, 6 January 2017 | Updated: 22:59 EST, 6 January 2017

Esteban Santiago, 26, opened fire at Florida’s Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport

  • Five people were killed and another eight were injured during Friday’s shooting
  • Santiago was an Iraq war veteran who was suffering from mental health issues
  • His family said he was hospitalized last month for his psychiatric problems
  • He told FBI in November he was being forced to fight for ISIS by the government
  • Santiago was born in New Jersey but moved to Puerto Rico when he was two
  • He had been living in Anchorage, Alaska with his girlfriend from 2014-2016

The gunman behind the deadly shooting at Florida’s Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport is an Iraq war veteran who had recently become a father and was suffering mental health issues.

Esteban Santiago, 26, left five people dead and eight wounded when he opened fire in the airport’s baggage claim terminal on Friday.

His family have said Santiago was struggling with psychiatric problems in the lead up to the shooting and had recently been hospitalized for treatment in Anchorage, Alaska.

 Esteban Santiago, the 26-year-old gunman behind the deadly shooting at Florida’s Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport, was an Iraq war veteran suffering mental health issues

His brother Bryan Santiago, who lives in Puerto Rico, said his family got a call in recent months from Santiago’s girlfriend alerting them to the situation.

He said he didn’t know what his brother was being treated for and that they never talked about it over the phone.

The incident that sparked his hospitalization occurred in November when Santiago walked into an FBI office in Anchorage claiming the government was controlling his mind and forcing him to watch videos for ISIS, CBS reports.

A law enforcement official said the FBI interviewed him and then called the police, who took him for a mental health evaluation.

He was also contacted by the FBI after an employer back in Alaska raised concerns about certain things he had said, according to ABC News.

Santiago was born in New Jersey but moved to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico when he was two years old with his mother and brother.

He grew up in the southern coastal town of Penuelas before serving with the Puerto Rico National Guard from 2007. He eventually joined the Alaska National guard from 2014 to 2016.

Santiago, who served in Iraq in 2010 as a combat engineer (right), recently welcomed a child (left) with his girlfriend in Anchorage, Alaska in September

A firearm (believed to be pictured) was Santiago’s only piece of checked luggage when he flew from Alaska to Florida on Delta via Minneapolis on Friday

Cellphone video showed victims on the floor next to a carousel, with people on their knees attempting to provide aid. At least two victims had pools of blood from apparent head wounds

Santiago was deployed to Iraq in 2010 and spent a year there with the 130th Engineer Battalion.

A private first class and combat engineer, he received half a dozen medals before receiving a general discharge for unsatisfactory performance in August last year.

He had been living in Anchorage, Alaska with his girlfriend for two years before they welcomed a child in September last year.

His aunt Maria Ruiz told NorthJersey.com that Santiago had returned from Iraq acting strangely but had seemed happy after the birth of his child.

But she said something happened to him about a month ago and he was hospitalized for two weeks. She did not have details of his condition.

‘Like a month ago, it was like he lost his mind. He said he saw things,’ she said.

Santiago’s brother Bryan Santiago speculated about a motive for the shooting, saying he could have suffered a ‘flashback’ from his time in Iraq, despite never being diagnosed with PTSD, NBC reports.