Fort Lauderdale Airport Shooter Can Escape Death With Guilty Plea

MIAMI, FL — Esteban Santiago Ruiz, the troubled Iraq war veteran accused of coldly opening fire at a crowded Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, could escape the death penalty for the deadly January 2017 rampage. Appearing before a federal judge on Tuesday, Santiago Ruiz offered to plead guilty in exchange for a promise that prosecutors would not seek the death penalty. Five people were killed in the attack and six others were wounded.

"In the event that he pleads guilty, the government would not seek the death penalty," a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami told Patch.

U.S. District Court Judge Beth Bloom ordered Santiago Ruiz to appear at a competency hearing on May 23.

Santiago Ruiz is accused of traveling to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on a Delta flight from Minneapolis, retrieving his semi-automatic handgun at the Terminal 2 baggage claim and then loading it in a restroom before opening fire on a crowded baggage claim.

He not only served in the U.S. military in Iraq but he earned 11 awards, including the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, according to military records.

Broward County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case of accused Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz despite a similar offer from his attorneys. Both the airport and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are located in Broward County.

Unlike Cruz, the accused airport shooter is charged with federal offenses: Performing an act of violence against a person at an airport serving international civil aviation that caused serious bodily injury; using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence; and causing the death of a person through the use of a firearm in the course of a violation.

Each of those federal offenses carry a maximum penalty of death or imprisonment for life, according to federal officials.

Photo by Broward County Sheriff's Office