The FBI called Anchorage police, reporting a mental-health crisis. Officers took the Iraq War veteran for an involuntary mental-health evaluation because of his “disjointed statements.” They also took his gun. And then a month later — with the FBI’s consent — they gave it back.
A former FBI agent says the leadership at the nation’s top law enforcement agency is playing a game of semantics to spin the fact that they might have given a suspected killer the weapon he used to take the lives of five travelers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Friday. Another six were injured.
“Their biggest problem is explaining their actions to the victims — besides the potential liability to the taxpayers,” said Jeff Danik, the former agent in charge of the West Palm Beach FBI office. He also worked counter-terrorism cases in Saudi Arabia.
“This is a very unique and significant situation. It should have gotten somebody’s attention.”
Expectations high for FBI
The special agent in charge in Anchorage said at a news conference Saturday that people with mental-health issues come into FBI field offices regularly throughout the country, so Santiago was hardly unusual.
Danik agreed in general but pointed out a key flaw — those telling the FBI they hear voices in their heads rarely are in possession of a semi-automatic weapon and speaking of ISIS.
“You don’t want to deprive citizens of their lawful property,” Danik said. “However, the lack of leadership in law enforcement here really bugs me. In that situation, you have a guy who has articulated a lot of problems. He has domestic-violence arrests. He has mental issues. He has a discharge from the military that is questionable.”
While there are discussions about whether passengers should be allowed to travel with weapons and ammunition in their luggage and the soft target that baggage-claim areas present, questions linger about whether the tragedy could have been prevented in Alaska by law enforcement.
Danik said no matter how the FBI explains itself, U.S. citizens expected it to perform differently. Red flags, he noted, were everywhere and supervisors at the FBI needed to act accordingly.
Anchorage police and the FBI might not be the only ones who stumbled. What could the Transportation Security Administration and Delta Air Lines have done to derail Santiago before he was reunited with his Walther 9mm gun and ammunition in the baggage-claim bathroom?
The FBI has not confirmed that the gun it returned to Santiago was the one he used at the airport. Still, Broward Sheriff Scott Israel has questioned why the agency gave the weapon back to him.
“People who are suffering from mental illness should not be allowed, in my opinion, to purchase or have firearms at any time,” Israel said.
When he was arrested after the shooting, Santiago repeated the claims of CIA mind control and terrorism that he made to the FBI.
A phone message left with the FBI in Washington for additional comment was not returned on Wednesday.
‘Lack of Leadership’
Marlon Ritzman, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Anchorage office, and Anchorage Police Chief Chris Tolley held a news conference Saturday to explain why the weapon was returned. They ended up listing Santiago’s previous interactions with police and how he had his infant in the car when he drove up to the FBI offices Nov. 7.
Tolley said that after his mental-health evaluation, Santiago showed up at the police station to get his gun back Nov. 30 but couldn’t get it returned. When the FBI found no ties between Santiago and terrorist organizations, the agency gave its blessing for police to return the weapon. He got the weapon back Dec. 8.
Karen Loeffler, the U.S. attorney for the District of Alaska, said law-enforcement hands were tied because to take away someone’s gun rights, the law requires that the person be adjudicated mentally ill by the courts — a difficult burden.
Danik, the former FBI agent said protocol needs to take a back seat when such a scenario presents itself.
“Your job is to say, ‘Wait a minute. Let me think this through,’” Danik said. “It is not to say, ‘What is the policy here?’”
Santiago told the FBI after the shooting that he planned the attack, according to court documents.
He bought a one-way ticket from Anchorage and checked a box with the handgun and two ammunition magazines. When he landed in Fort Lauderdale, he retrieved the box and loaded the gun in the men’s bathroom. He apparently picked out victims at random, emptying both clips and then surrendering to police.
Dots not connected
Boynton Beach police spokeswoman Stephanie Slater said police rely on a database maintained by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to decide whether to return a firearm to a person who had been committed for an involuntary mental-health examination.
The FDLE gets information from county clerks on people who have been found to be mentally competent.
Sometimes, the attorney for the person might intervene. West Palm Beach lawyer Val Rodriguez said he has told clients who are eligible to get their gun returned that it might not be a good idea. “All lawyers have a responsibility to make sure that the client doesn’t have mental-health issues,” he said.
But Rodriguez emphasized he is in a much different position than the federal government. “They are the law. If they don’t give it back, in theory, your Second Amendment rights are being violated,” he said.
Rodriguez is a gun owner and has traveled to Alaska where he says just about everyone carries a firearm for good reason.
“When I was there a public safety commercial came on the television about carrying a firearm and looking both ways when leaving the house because of bears,” Rodriguez said. “Be prepared for wildlife! And it was a public-service commercial. And it was talking about firearms. Apparently, it is a problem in Alaska where you walk out the door, you can be attacked by a grizzly bear.”
When it comes to finger pointing, does the TSA and Delta shoulder some of the blame for not flagging Santiago as a security risk?
George F. McHendry Jr., a Creighton University professor specializing in surveillance and security, including the ways the TSA communicates with the traveling public, agrees with Danik.
“It’s really easy to say the airline should have been alarmed, the TSA should have been alarmed,” McHendry said. “But when you add in the second layer of him being interviewed because he was concerned he would do something violent, rather than an individual red flag that should have been raised, there are multiple places where concerns could have or should have been raised. Instead, the dots are never connected.”
He said that neither the TSA nor Delta knew the history of Santiago and that the ticket agent might have been unaware that he was traveling with one item: his gun. A TSA spokeswoman declined to comment, and Delta declined to answer specific questions about airport security.
Reality check
Danik was less sympathetic, saying one of the TSA’s functions is to cull passenger information in order to flag travelers as security risks. Santiago bought a one-way ticket and had little or no baggage. It is the same profile of some of the 9/11 terrorists — only they just had box cutters.
Dean Alexander, a homeland security and domestic terrorism expert at Western Illinois University, defended the FBI, calling the criticism heaped on the agency, “Monday morning quarterbacking.” He returns to the airport security issue.
“Sending the gun and being able to pick it up in baggage claim is something that might need further assessment in the future,” he said.
Alexander points out that Santiago could have ended up carrying out his plan by simply walking off the street as passengers retrieved their luggage, retrieving the firearm from a car.
“Unfortunately, we need a reality check,” he said. “Sometimes bad things happen even though law enforcement did what it was supposed to do.”
TIMELINE
Sept. 14, 2015
Police ticket Esteban Santiago for driving a red 1995 Ford Explorer without insurance. He remains living in South Anchorage. A charge filed by the city of Anchorage later notes that Santiago admitted to the offense.
Dec. 12, 2015
The driving without insurance charge is dismissed.
Dec. 30, 2015
Santiago signs a “notice of change of mailing address” in a city criminal case, listing his address as an Anchorage post office box. By this time, Santiago was no longer living at the mobile home, according to the current occupants.
Jan. 10, 2016
The city files a two-count criminal charge against Santiago, accusing him of property damage and domestic-violence assault. The charges say Santiago either kicked or forced a door open and frightened his girlfriend, yelling at her while she was in the bathroom. The charges say Santiago forced his way in the bathroom, breaking the door and door frame.
“(The girlfriend) stated that he continued to yell at her ‘get the (expletive) out, bitch,’ while strangling her and smacking her in the side of the head,” according to an Anchorage police officer’s account. The officer wrote that he saw no physical injuries on the woman.
Feb. 17, 2016
Santiago is accused of violating the conditions of his release. Police say he had been ordered not to have any contact with the victim in the previous case, but that police found Santiago at her residence.
Santiago admitted that he had been living at the home since about Jan. 17, according to the charges.
Online Alaska court records show that the assault charge was dismissed, but municipal prosecutor Seneca A. Theno said that is incorrect.
Theno said the charge of violating conditions of release was dropped in exchange for Santiago agreeing to plead no contest to the domestic-violence assault and criminal mischief charges.
Feb. 23, 2016
According to Anchorage Police Chief Chris Tolley, “On February 23, (there was) a violation of conditions of release. Mr. Santiago was restricted from the woman’s address. During a compliance check, officers found him there, arrested and remanded (him.)”
March 18, 2016
Anchorage police responded to a “physical disturbance” involving Santiago, but police were not able to establish probable cause for an arrest, Tolley said.
Oct. 15, 2016
Anchorage police responded to a domestic violence physical disturbance involving Santiago, said Tolley, and officers investigated. However, the municipal prosecutor did not give authorization to make an arrest.
Oct. 21, 2016
Santiago was involved in another physical disturbance, and there was an “allegation of strangulation,” Tolley said. Again, officers did not establish probable cause or make an arrest.
Source: KTUU-TV, Anchorage, Alaska
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