- Title: Brother of Florida shooting suspect places blame on the government
- Date: 7th January 2017
- Summary: PENUELAS, PUERTO RICO (JANUARY 7, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FAMILY HOME (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BRYAN SANTIAGO RUIZ, BROTHER OF SHOOTING SUSPECT ESTEBAN SANTIAGO RUIZ, SAYING: "When he was in Alaska I noticed changes in him. He would talk to me about what he felt, that he heard voices. That he heard voices, that they were following him, that the federal government, the CIA wanted him to watch certain terrorist videos. For him to do an act… so he told me all of that. That he traveled that they were following him. So since he psychologically couldn't hold on anymore, I told him, 'look, you need psychological help. Go to church or look for counseling.' So he went, sorry, wait. I returned to Puerto Rico after that and I had knowledge of his attitude and the change in his state of mind in his thinking and what he was seeing he was like paranoid." SIGN "BIENVENIDOS A LAS QUEBRADAS" (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BRYAN SANTIAGO RUIZ, BROTHER OF SHOOTING SUSPECT ESTEBAN SANTIAGO RUIZ, SAYING: "He went to the FBI offices in Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska to explain to them what he was seeing, the voices he was hearing. That the government was writing to him in secret code for him to do certain things." NEIGHBORHOOD STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BRYAN SANTIAGO RUIZ, BROTHER OF SHOOTING SUSPECT ESTEBAN SANTIAGO RUIZ, SAYING: "It's their fault because there are people who never go to the government to ask for help and when a barbaric act like this happens and when they evaluate them, the psychologists and psychiatrists understand that their mind isn't well. What more that a person who went ahead of time to explain the situation? They knew it was going to happen." CITY STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BRYAN SANTIAGO RUIZ, BROTHER OF SHOOTING SUSPECT ESTEBAN SANTIAGO RUIZ, SAYING: "They knew ahead of time, they can't say that this is a person who overnight committed an act. No, they already knew about the thoughts he was having. That angers me." CITY STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BRYAN SANTIAGO RUIZ, BROTHER OF SHOOTING SUSPECT ESTEBAN SANTIAGO RUIZ, SAYING: "He was never a Muslim, I want that to be clear. Because they are saying on the internet that he got radicalized and stuff like that. No, he never got radicalized, he has never been of the Islamic movement." SIGN THAT READS "BIENVENIDOS A PENUELAS" (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BRYAN SANTIAGO RUIZ, BROTHER OF SHOOTING SUSPECT ESTEBAN SANTIAGO RUIZ, SAYING: "They need to look for spiritual and psychological help just like us, because we, just like them, are affected. One is not more than the other. We're all affected here. That they understand also that a person who ahead of time sought help, he sought help, don't blame him." MORE OF "BIENVENIDOS A PENUELAS" SIGN
- Embargoed: 22nd January 2017 23:25
- Keywords: Flordia shooting airport Bryan Santiago Esteban Santiago Fort Lauderdale Puerto Rico
- Location: PENUELAS, PUERTO RICO
- City: PENUELAS, PUERTO RICO
- Country: Puerto Rico
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
- Reuters ID: LVA0015Y2ZP6V
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The brother of the accused Florida airport shooter, Esteban Santiago, said he blamed the government for not getting him the help he needed.
"They knew ahead of time, they can't say that this is a person who overnight committed an act. No, they already knew about the thoughts he was having. That angers me," said Bryan Santiago, the brother of Esteban.
Speaking outside his family home in Penuelas, Puerto Rico, one day after the mass shooting that killed five people at the Fort Lauderdale airport, Bryan said he noticed changes in his brother and urged him to get help.
"He would talk to me about what he felt, that he heard voices. That he heard voices, that they were following him, that the federal government, the CIA wanted him to watch certain terrorist videos. For him to do an act… so he told me all of that. That he traveled that they were following him," he said.
"So since he psychologically couldn't hold on anymore, I told him, 'look, you need psychological help. Go to church or look for counseling.' So he went, sorry, wait. I returned to Puerto Rico after that and I had knowledge of his attitude and the change in his state of mind in his thinking and what he was seeing he was like paranoid," he added.
Santiago said his brother, an Iraq war veteran, went to the FBI offices in Alaska and told them about the voices he was hearing.
"It's their fault because there are people who never go to the government to ask for help and when a barbaric act like this happens and when they evaluate them, the psychologists and psychiatrists understand that the their mind isn't well. What more that a person who went ahead of time to explain the situation? They knew it was going to happen," he explained.
Bryan also said he wanted it to be known that his brother was never radicalized.
"He was never a Muslim, I want that to be clear. Because they are saying on the internet that he got radicalized and stuff like that. No, he never got radicalized, he has never been of the Islamic movement."
Six people were wounded in the attack, while some three dozen were taken to local hospitals with bruises or broken bones suffered in the chaos as passengers fled Friday's rampage in the crowded baggage claim area.
Authorities say Santiago arrived in Ft. Lauderdale on a connecting flight from Alaska, and that he retrieved a 9mm semi-automatic handgun from his checked luggage before loading it in a bathroom and then shooting indiscriminately. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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