Law enforcement agents in Anchorage, Alaska, confiscated a gun from 26-year-old former Army reservist Esteban Santiago in November, federal law enforcement sources told NBC News on Sunday. The officials said they believe the gun that authorities seized was the same weapon Santiago allegedly used in Friday’s deadly shooting at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport.
In November, Santiago walked into the Anchorage FBI office “to report that his mind was being controlled by a U.S. intelligence agency,” Special Agent in Charge Marlin Ritzman said.
Federal agents at the office called the local police, who retrieved a gun from Santiago’s car outside. However, police said an investigation revealed that Sanitago had no ties to terrorism and that his criminal history included an arrest and charge for assault and criminal mischief after a violent argument with his girlfriend.
Federal law requires that someone be "adjudicated mentally ill" for him or her to be prohibited from owning a handgun. Because Santiago had not been adjudicated, police returned the handgun one month later, officials said.
