Esteban Santiago

by Original Quill Fri Jan 06, 2017 8:07 pm

Lone gunman opens fire at airport in Fort Lauderdale, FL. 5 dead and 8 wounded. Gunman in custody.

MSNBC News wrote:Senator Identifies Fort Lauderdale Airport Shooter as Esteban Santiago
by J.D. Durkin | 2:34 pm, January 6th, 2017

Florida Senator Bill Nelson identified the name of the alleged shooter at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport during a Friday afternoon hit on MSNBC.

Senator Nelson told the cable news net during an interview Friday afternoon that the alleged gunman’s name is Esteban Santiago. At this time, five people have been killed at the airport, which has been evacuated.

ABC News reports that the shooting took place at Terminal 2 of the airport. CBS Miami affiliate WFOR has footage of passengers on the tarmac after Terminal 2 was evacuated. CBS News reports that one victim is “bleeding profusely.” People have been evacuated from the main terminals onto the runways, with reports of panic and confusion breaking out in the airport immediately after the initial shots were fired.

Senator Nelson revealed that Santiago had a military ID, though it was unclear at this time if that ID was current or expired. Nelson said that he was told the name of the shooter by the head of the TSA, taking to both MSNBC and CNN airwaves in the last several minutes to reveal the name of the shooter. Additionally, Mayor Barbara Sharief of Broward County Florida reported shortly ago on CNN that thirteen people have been transferred to area hospitals at this time.

This information is breaking and we will update as more becomes known.

by eddie Fri Jan 06, 2017 10:38 pm

Just seen this on sky news, information is sketchy.
Any updates your end?

by Original Quill Sat Jan 07, 2017 2:29 am

Nah...a lot about his background. Tetched in the head. Discharged from military, not honorable. They can't land any planes at Ft. Lauderdale. That's about it.

by Tommy Monk Sun Jan 08, 2017 12:09 am

He is said to be a convert to islam...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-06/terrorism-airport-shooting-suspect-esteban-santiago-identified-convert-islam-who-wat

by Tommy Monk Sun Jan 08, 2017 3:25 pm

Apparently he also went by the name “Aashiq Hammad”...

by Guest Sun Jan 08, 2017 3:52 pm

More than 24 hours after the Ft. Lauderdale airport shooting, there is a theory going around the Internet that Esteban Santiago was a Muslim convert. Is that true?

Senator Bill Nelson was the first to identify the alleged shooter as Esteban Santiago. He was carrying a military ID. He is reportedly 26, born in 1990 in New Jersey.

Santiago does not appear to have a Facebook account. Several people have found a Facebook account of a man from New Jersey who now lives in FL and has the name Esteban Santiago; that was not the same person as the alleged suspect.

There are multiple ex-felons in Florida with the name Esteban Santiago, but none of them are the same age as the alleged suspect. According to the The Daily Beast, however, there are arrest records for Santiago in Alaska:

According to charging documents provided by the Anchorage prosecutor's office to The Daily Beast, on January 10, 2016, Santiago verbally assaulted his then girlfriend, a 40-year old mother of one child from a previous marriage whom The Daily Beast is not naming, through a locked bathroom door, telling her to "Get the fuck out, bitch." After he forced his way in by breaking down the door, he smacked her in the head and strangled her. By the time police arrived, Santiago had fled the scene.

So is Esteban Santiago Muslim?

The rumor that Esteban Santiago was Muslim originally started with conservative websites claiming to have found Santiago's court database records, but it was significantly buttressed by a statement made by authorities. In a press conference, FBI special agent George Piro said, "we have not ruled out terrorism."

Authorities have also said that Santiago had turned himself in to authorities in Alaska, saying that voices were telling him to follow ISIS, according to the Daily Beast. But at the time, he also said that the CIA was making him watch ISIS videos, which suggests questionable mental health. This morning, it was revealed that Sanitago flew to Florida with the full intention of performing the shooting.

Several right-wing conspiracy sites say that they have traced Santiago via Lexis-Nexis databases. One of those sites, WeSearchr, posted what they claim are records of Santiago showing that his email addresses were naota33@hotmail.com and naota17@gmail.com. There is no further evidence for this, and it has not been reported by any reputable news stations. Sill, they claim that when you look up that email address online, you find multiple postings regarding Islam, Muslims, and even ISIS. They have posted what they say are screenshots of this, which have been retweeted by Internet users.

Nevertheless, there are several reasons to believe Santiago is not an Islamic terrorist. According to The Daily Beast, Santiago's brother said that he loved America. Santiago had also been watched for severe mental health issues.

Who is Aashiq Hammad?

Several conspiracy sites claim that Esteban Santiago referred to himself as Aashiq Hammad on Myspace. Those sites base that on the email addresses mentioned above. According to them, they searched the Myspace password database (which was hacked and released on the dark web) and found that one of those email addresses corresponded to this Myspace account:#

There are clearly references to "Allah" on that page. However, there is also a giant "I love the USA" image, which brings the conspiracy sites' argument into question. It is also extremely important to note that the leaked users/passwords from the Myspace database were from the dark web, and there's no proof those haven't been manipulated.

It would be easy for someone to manipulate the database in order to make it seem that this was Myspace account was associated with the email addresses above, even if it was not. And of course, we don't have evidence that the email addresses are correct.

So is Esteban Santiago a Muslim? There is still no hard evidence either way. It is very dangerous to jump to conclusions based on certain conspiracy sites. It's possible that the conspiracy is correct, but at this point there's no hard evidence to suggest that it is.

http://emptylighthouse.com/who-fort-lauderdale-shooter-664684860

by Original Quill Sun Jan 08, 2017 4:33 pm

It seems to me the real question is not Is he a Muslim?, but what motivated him? He could also be blue-eyed with big ears...but did that cause him to shoot and kill 5 people in the Ft. Lauderdale airport?

Until that connection is made, it's just coincidental associations.

by nicko Sun Jan 08, 2017 8:09 pm

According to claims by ISIS, reported on BBC,ITV and others, he was a Muslim acting on their orders.

by Guest Sun Jan 08, 2017 8:12 pm

nicko wrote:According to claims by ISIS, reported on BBC,ITV and others, he was a Muslim acting on their orders.

They claim responsibility for many attacks Nicko
Does not mean they were behind this attack
They could well be and he could well be Muslim, but people are jumping to conclusions.
I doubt it matters to the victims families whether he is Muslim or not. They will want answers on how and why he was able to commit this attack

by Tommy Monk Sun Jan 08, 2017 8:36 pm

Islamist terrorists have too much freedom... that is how... and this will not change while they have their apologists and denialists in action...

by Original Quill Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:04 pm

Tommy Monk wrote:

Islamist terrorists have too much freedom... that is how... and this will not change while they have their apologists and denialists in action...

Nor will it be the case because you say so, tommy. As Thorin points out, you can't presume the association. Nor does the claim by ISIS tell us anything. If you believed everything they said, you would just become the tool of ISIS. How would that look?

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Esteban Santiago