A police officer has been suspended and can be arrested for releasing a video to the press that shows the moment that the shooter at the Florida airport opened fire on passengers, said a local sheriff on Wednesday (January 11th). Michael Dingman, an agent of Broward County -- that belongs to Fort Lauderdale, 50 km north of Miami -- was suspended on Tuesday (January 10th) during investigations. "Tomorrow I can put him back on duty, or suspend him without keeping his pay, or even arrest him for delivering the video to TMZ," Sheriff Scott Israel told local radio 610 WiOD.
The release of the video is a "depreciable and probably illegal act," said the sheriff. He also explained that authorities still do not know whether the shooter, Esteban Santiago, has any connection to Fort Lauderdale or for what reason he would have chosen Friday, January 6th, to carry out the attack, which left five dead and six wounded. In addition, he did not rule out the suspicion of terrorism: "It could be a local violent extremist."
The Mayor of Broward County, Barbara Sharief argued, in an interview with the local affiliate of ABC, that the disclosure of the video is "completely unacceptable." "Knowing that someone with this level of authority may think it's okay to leak evidence to the press does not please us, and it's a crime," she said, apologizing to the victims and their families.
Video shows shooter
On Sunday, the tabloid TMZ released the video of a security camera that shows Santiago, dressed in a blue shirt, walking through the terminal near the area for baggage claim. After passing through some people, he takes with his right hand the gun that was on his waist. He shoots twice at targets that are not visible in the video and then starts running.
Among the six injured, three remain hospitalized at a clinic in Broward, one of them in critical condition.
Santiago, a 26-year-old Iraq war veteran, appeared before federal court in Fort Lauderdale on Monday (January 9th). The former military man worked until November at a security firm in Alaska and said he had between "five and ten dollars" in his bank account. He can be sentenced to death.
