Here we go again with another crazy guy committing a mass shooting:
This photo from social media shows Fort Lauderdale airport shooting suspect Esteban Santiago, according to multiple law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation. When and where the photo was taken is not clear, but the images have been circulated to law enforcement in the context of the ongoing criminal investigation. [NBC News]
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 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 Record newspaper.
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. [Associated Press]
You can read more at the link, but we have heard this claim before of service in Iraq or Afghanistan being the reason someone committed a crime to find out later they were a Fobbit that never saw active combat. I won’t believe his service in Iraq had anything to do with him committing this crime until I hear what his service record was in Iraq. There is actually a pretty good chance he did not see active combat considering the timeframe he was in Iraq in 2010-2011 was when the pullout happened.
Additionally according to what the media has reported so far all he received from his Iraq deployment was a Iraq Campaign Medal and a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal which everyone gets. If he was participating in active combat you would think he would have received at least an AAM or ARCOM plus a Combat Action Badge. Based on the information currently available I would not be surprised if Santiago’s mental issues are unrelated to his military service.
