Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

N.J. aunt of Ft. Lauderdale airport shooting suspect: 'He lost his mind' in Iraq
NJ.com ^ | January 6, 2017 | By Kelly Heyboer and Fausto Giovanny Pinto

Posted on 01/06/2017 3:38:43 PM PST by COUNTrecount

UNION CITY -- The suspect in the Fort Lauderdale shooting was a U.S. military veteran who "lost his mind" after a tour of duty in Iraq, his aunt said Friday. Maria Ruiz Rivera, of Union City, said she was told by relatives in Florida that the suspected shooter who killed at least five people at the Fort Lauderdale airport Friday was her nephew, Esteban Santiago-Ruiz. Agents who identified themselves as being from the FBI arrived at the family's Union City apartment Friday afternoon to question the aunt and uncle about their nephew, the family said.

Ruiz Rivera said relatives in Florida were also contacted by law enforcement officials Friday afternoon.

Suspect in Ft. Lauderdale shooting from N.J., reports say The suspected gunman opened fire at the Fort Lauderdale airport Friday, killing at least five people before he was taken into custody, authorities say. Santiago-Ruiz, who was born in New Jersey, was living in Alaska and has a newborn baby boy, his aunt told NJ Advance Media. He appeared to be doing well and was working a security job in recent months, she said. But he was hospitalized for mental health issues after returning from a year-long tour in Iraq about five years ago, his aunt said. "He lost his mind," Ruiz Rivera said in Spanish.

(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-30 next last

1 posted on 01/06/2017 3:38:43 PM PST by COUNTrecount
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: COUNTrecount

Iraq????

I’ve been following this event all day. I’ve read about his life in Alaska and his brief tour with the National Guard.

But this is the first time I’ve seen him being in Iraq.

As is usual with event unfolding immediately after a disaster - most reports are crap.

How was this fool in Iraq back in 2011?


2 posted on 01/06/2017 3:42:21 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: COUNTrecount

He’s a JIHADI!!!


3 posted on 01/06/2017 3:44:20 PM PST by Ann Archy (Abortion....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: COUNTrecount

Yeah and that is why he has been downloading Islamic Jihad material from back in 2007..just another Muslim Jihadist doing what they do best but then trying to blame the war for it


4 posted on 01/06/2017 3:44:31 PM PST by Sarah Barracuda
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ann Archy

Sudden Jihad Syndrome,


5 posted on 01/06/2017 3:47:40 PM PST by Big Red Badger (UNSCANABLE in an IDIOCRACY!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd

Answering my own ??? by going to the article....

Santiago-Ruiz grew up in the southern coastal town of Penuelas in Puerto Rico, said his brother, Bryan Santiago. He joined Puerto Rico’s National Guard.

He was deployed to Iraq in 2010 and spent a year there with the 130th Engineer Battalion, the 1013th engineer company out of Aguadilla, according to Puerto Rico National Guard spokesman Maj. Paul Dahlen.

~snip~

A spokeswoman for the Alaska Army National Guard said Santiago-Ruiz joined the Guard there in November 2014, but general discharge from the Alaska Army National Guard last year for unsatisfactory performance. Lt. Col. Candis Olmstead did not release details about the discharge, which was in August 2016.


6 posted on 01/06/2017 3:49:23 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Big Red Badger

BEWARE of ANYONE with DEAD EYES!!!!


7 posted on 01/06/2017 3:49:25 PM PST by Ann Archy (Abortion....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd

I was wondering where he got his combat engineer training.


8 posted on 01/06/2017 3:51:11 PM PST by txhurl (Break's over, kids, back to WAR.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: txhurl

FWIW, I think this changes the ongoing narrative that he was a muzzie sympathizer.

He’s an Iraqi war vet with PTSD.


9 posted on 01/06/2017 3:54:41 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: COUNTrecount

She’s correct; anyone who converts to Islam has obviously lost their mind. But whatever he did regarding conversion, killing and anything else, he did using his free will.


10 posted on 01/06/2017 3:59:23 PM PST by little jeremiah (Half the truth is often a great lie. B. Franklin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd

An attempt to change it. He’s nuts because he converted to Islam or at the very least, identifies with Islamic goals and wanted to help advance them.


11 posted on 01/06/2017 4:01:01 PM PST by little jeremiah (Half the truth is often a great lie. B. Franklin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: little jeremiah

Very possible. He’s not the first nut to cross over to the enemy side while serving.


12 posted on 01/06/2017 4:05:28 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd

Yes, and then there are those who enlist to get training and/or for sabotage.


13 posted on 01/06/2017 4:12:07 PM PST by Jane Austen (Neo-cons are liberal Democrats who love illegal aliens and war.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: COUNTrecount

Tim McVeigh served in Gulf War 1. That was no excuse, he was still executed.


14 posted on 01/06/2017 4:19:15 PM PST by rfp1234 (DinosorosExtinction)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: COUNTrecount
It's possible.It's said that the symptoms of schizophrenia first become clear from the mid -teens to the mid-twenties.Decades of working in “front line” medicine put me in contact with many,many schizophrenics and unless you've ever dealt with one you have no idea what it's like.
15 posted on 01/06/2017 4:24:06 PM PST by Gay State Conservative (Deplorables' Lives Matter)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ann Archy

You are preaching to the Choir,
Some of the “people” I work with
have exactly the same Profile as
This jerkoff!
Do I ccw,,,?


16 posted on 01/06/2017 4:25:49 PM PST by Big Red Badger (UNSCANABLE in an IDIOCRACY!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd
Hotlinks to free short story about the Fort Lauderdale Shooter.


17 posted on 01/06/2017 4:26:10 PM PST by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd

“He’s an Iraqi war vet with PTSD.”

Because there were so many combat ops in Iraq in 2011?

The guy was an engineer moving trash at one of the Iraqi training bases. Not exactly PTSD-inducing.


18 posted on 01/06/2017 4:33:57 PM PST by Justa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Gay State Conservative

Yup, a schizo.


19 posted on 01/06/2017 4:37:51 PM PST by Justa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: COUNTrecount

“What a waste it is to lose one’s mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.”


20 posted on 01/06/2017 4:43:51 PM PST by jaz.357 (Si vis pacem, para bellum)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-30 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson