This isn’t rocket science. Anyone can pull up, get out of the car, walk in an airport and open fire. And they can do it at any other place where people gather. He just happened to choose this particular airport in this city for some reason.
Maybe he was angry about a past event the last time he visited Ft. Lauderdale or passed through the airport. Maybe he was convinced by an ISISI video to choose FLL airport -specifically as his target.
With the amount of rounds he used, Santiago could have went to the mall, movies, park, festival, McDs, or any number of places and killed the same number if not more back in Alaska or Phoenix or LA or NJ.
Airports, particularly that one, are loaded with armed LEO both local and federal. He probably expected to get shot and is shocked that he didn’t. He appears to have had no getaway plan. What was his plan, hail a cab if not suicide?
The parking facility and all roads in and out of that airport are loaded with cameras and cops. Within seconds, all the roads are closed. No one was going in or out. He made no attempts to exit, that we know of.
This was a mass-murder-terrorism-suicide-by-cop act. As a military guy, he might have seen this atmosphere as a challenge. We may never know the truth.
The reports are saying he got into an altercation on the flight with some passengers and they he shoots up the baggage claim where those passengers are. I’m betting the victims will turn out to be the same people from his flight and he went all ptsd rage on them. snapped got his legally checked firearm and went for pay back in the last area he would see these people again. once they leave baggage they are gone forever. if it was suicide by cop he would have pointed the gun loaded or not at the cops, the fact that he on his own layed down prone signals surrender not come shoot me. The cops didn’t force him down he went down after he ran out of rounds and rage over.