Jihad at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport

By now you’ve all heard about this afternoon’s shooting at the airport in Ft. Lauderdale. Five people were killed and eight others wounded. The suspect, who is now in custody, is named Esteban Santiago-Ruiz.

At first it looked like this was shaping up to be another “workplace violence” incident. The perp didn’t have a Muslim name. He had been in the military and was stationed in Iraq at one point. He has a history of mental problems. And he allegedly got into an argument on the plane during his trip from Alaska to Florida.

But then this photo emerged, allegedly from his Twitter account, which has now been closed:

Maybe the picture is bogus — who knows? But if it isn’t, Mr. Santiago-Ruiz is definitely a convert to Islam, because he is making the unmistakable and notorious gang sign for the Islamic State: a single index finger pointing upwards, representing tawhid, the oneness of Allah.

There’s also a rumor floating around that he lived within walking distance of the only mosque in Alaska.

This is very much a breaking story, so I’m sure much more will be unfolding in the next few hours. I’m waiting to learn his Muslim name, which is bound to emerge sooner or later.

Here’s a recent report from the local CBS affiliate in Miami:

Police: Suspected Gunman Got Into an Argument During Flight

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) — Federal law enforcement sources said the suspected gunman in a deadly attack at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport got into an argument during his flight from Alaska to Florida.

They’re now investigating whether that’s what set off a shooting rampage that left 5 dead and 8 others wounded.

Esteban Santiago-Ruiz, 26, took a flight from Alaska to Florida Friday with a stop in Minnesota, officials said. Somewhere along the way, he got into an argument.

According to Broward Commissioner Chip LaMarca, Santiago-Ruiz arrived from a flight with a gun that he checked in.

“He claimed his bag and took the gun from baggage and went into the bathroom to load it. Came out shooting people in baggage claim,” LaMarca said.

Passengers are legally allowed to travel with guns and ammunition as long as the firearms are unloaded, secured in a lock box and not brought on board the plane as a carry-on. They must be declared to the airline at check-in.

Earlier reports claimed Santiago-Ruiz came in on a flight from Canada. On the company’s Twitter account, Air Canada confirmed that no one by that name was on their flight.

[…]

Santiago-Ruiz was born to Puerto Rican parents in New Jersey and recently became a father of a baby boy.

He also had military experience.

His aunt, according to nj.com, said after a tour of duty in Iraq, he “lost his mind” and was hospitalized at one point for mental health issues.

According to the Associated Press, the Pentagon said he went AWOL several times as a specialist during a stint with the Alaska National Guard and was demoted to private first class. He was given a general discharge, which is different from an honorable discharge.

In November 2016, he walked into an FBI office in Anchorage claiming that he was being forced to fight for ISIS and was sent to a psychiatric hospital, officials revealed.

In 2011 or 2012, he was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations for child porn. Three weapons and a computer were seized, but there was not enough evidence to prosecute, according to law enforcement sources.

Santiago also has a record for minor traffic violations and was evicted in 2015 for not paying rent.

Additional links:

Hat tips: Nash Montana and Vlad Tepes.

31 thoughts on “Jihad at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport

  1. You know whats interesting? I went to Santiago’s facebook page. There were some discrepancies in the picture resemblence. The eyebrows are not the same and the ears. I don’t think it was actually Santiago but someone who looked like him that may have created a false identity. As a Muslim I am sicked by what happened today. But sadly, I think it was an act of terror by someone that belives in Isis… a vile group who have terrorized the lives of EVERYONE around the world, and have corrupted the views of my religion beyond sympathy or forgiveness.

    • Omar, nice to see you here on Gates. Would you be willing to answer a few questions? I am sure you realize that we “kuffar” are getting pretty sick of the ongoing violence against us, and I appreciate you speak against it.

      But isn’t it built into Islam? I mean, wasn’t Muhammed a terrorist against the people of Medina and later Mecca, and against others on the Arabian peninsula? Aren’t there many passages in your venerated writings that incite violence against us? And indeed, isn’t this violence prominently visible everywhere Islam has a sufficient mass to throw its weight around?

      • Oh, I thought it was just the distraction du jour.

        Of course, there is still the possibility that the Russians hacked the shooters brain – while under direct orders from Putin. They should inspect the shell casings for Russian hacker code.

        [Whoever is doing my DDOS, I hope you are bored to tears.]

    • Omar, you always have the option of apostasy. Freely allowing apostasy is the single most important characteristic of a good – eve great – religion; because, if after that, it still has adherents, it has to have some commendable value to humanity.

      Now, I’m sure you have nothing to fear from Muslims, because they claim Islam to be a great religion. 😉

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostasy_in_Islam

      • Precisely, and as a great religion islam naturally has love for all people, including apostates, and us kaffirs. We are all aware that islam teaches us all that there is no compulsion in religion, so you are free to believe or not as you choose. The difference being that the penalty is both in this life and the next life, unlike what Christianity teaches. Pardon me if I view this and paying the jizya as “compulsion”, therefore a contradiction. Time to step into the light my friend.

    • Thank you, Omar, for speaking out as a Muslim about this horrific crime. I always want to hear perspectives from Muslims and it helps me to have the right perspective on all of this. It is very easy to stereotype and generalize all Muslims. We cannot do that. And I see that as someone who’s second and supportive of the most stringent vetting and immigration policies possible from Muslim nations. But we must never forget to respect our Muslim peacekeeping fellow citizens

      • No doubt Omar would pass Trump’s test for Muslims Who May Remain. It boils down to one question: which laws do you put first: The U.S. Constitution or Sharia. If there is any waffling at all on one’s loyalty to our laws, then the person in question should make immediate plans to leave.

        For those born here who have pledged allegiance to Sharia laws, there ought to be compounds if they have no Muslim majority country to which they can decamp. Unlike the West, Muslim majority countries are very picky about who may come in and stay. Same goes for Mexico. The residential rules for Mexico are quite strigent. An introduction:

        https://www.mexperience.com/lifestyle/living-in-mexico/visas-and-immigration/

  2. “As a Muslim” – so are there parts of the koran you refuse to take and apply literally? Such as beating your wife? You reat them as outdated and, in your mind, abrogated?

    • Fair questions. I hope Omar will answer them. I do think we should not ask them in a confrontational way.

      I sincerely want to know how peaceloving Muslims reconcile many parts of their religious text with their beliefs.

  3. As is usual in these occurrences, there was no one to shoot back. I hear Schumer warming up with a ‘no personal guns in airline luggage’ meme.

    • Terrific. To make. Why the hell don’t we have more armed citizens who could stop these things before they become bigger travesties? Because we refuse to see the problem as anything except guns.

      Now unfortunately the millions of law-abiding gun owners in this country will be forced to go through God knows what restrictions on transporting fire arms because of this crazy incident.

  4. The Eurotopian Authorities were going to use ‘mentally ill’ as code for jihadi, weren’t they? Maybe the Americans are doing it now, too? We really don’t know much, because the official sources have no credibility left at all. Their official policy is to lie.

    If he is a kid toucher, he would fit right in at a mosque.

    So, if it looks like a jihadi, and talks like a jihadi, and shoots people at an airport like a jihadi, it’s *probably* a jihadi. Time will likely tell.

  5. Everything we see are small diversions, to keep police, special services busy. Real soldiers are getting ready in the background of all this. Those are important. All these small true believers that from time to time explode, or these young guys searching a blond girl to rape, all these axe attackers, are only diversions, extra work for the police and services, and scary facts for all our girly boys. Real fighters and Islam army we did not see yet. They still need to organize. Those are the real deal, and we are not prepared for them, most of the people will be paralized when they will enter in this dirty show.

  6. It could be argued that nearly every one of these mass killings had warning signs that were ignored until “tragedy” unfolded like an object in motion, unobstructed yet moving as if predestined toward its fixed target. The Fort Hood Army major who gunned down his fellow soldiers on post; the Boston Marathon Bombers were known risks; neighbors saw suspicious activity around the San Bernardino couple who massacred coworkers at a holiday party; the Orlando night club killer had many encounters with LE. And here we are again. NSA, HSA, FBI, and a multitude of other alphabetical ministries costing citizens greater and greater loss of individual freedoms and privacies, and untold sums of money. I pray to God Trump can fix it.

  7. So he was allowed on a plane…with an unloaded gun that he had legally checked in? When are the authorities going to wake up? People in the western world need to become a lot smarter and vigilant….this was easy for him.

    • I travel with guns every time I fly. They must be in a qualifying locked case. Unloaded and are checked in and stored separately. I’ve never had a problem, of course I’m not a nut case either. As soon as I get off and out of the airport I strap up. It’s a sick world out there and if my Dad taught me anything don’t be a victim, your security is your responsibility.

  8. Black muslima mayor
    Barbara Muhammad Sharief

    “She was Broward’s first black female mayor, and its first Muslim mayor. Barbara Muhammad Sharief broke those barriers three years ago.”

    “The Muslim religion is one of the most peaceful religions out there. Violence is against everything that’s written in the Quran.”

  9. “The Muslim religion is one of the most peaceful religions out there. Violence is against everything that’s written in the Quran.” Is this a quotation from Mayor Sharief? If so, it’s irrelvant and completely untrue. Islam is at root, not only a “creed” that sanctions violence against non-believers and apostates, but a creed that is fundamentally irrational and anti-man, and anti-life. It can’t be tweaked into something wholesome and compatible with reason. But then no Western creed can be, either; they all — Christianity and Judaism and their subsects — at least grant their believers the non-penalty-earning aspect of choice. Islam does not. It’s all or nothing. It is essentially nihilist in practice and in theory. Islam of necessity is political in nature, because it demands the total submission and submersion of the individual, as did the secular religions of Nazism and Communism. You either belong and are dedicated to the Party, the Borg-like Hive, or the Ummah. Believing in Allah or that Mohammad is his prophet is not an option; if you don’t you are nothing. And as “nothing” you can be murdered, raped, cast out, cheated, lied to, or conquered and subjected to dhimmitude or slavery.

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