Passenger cheats death after Apple laptop bag strapped to his back takes bullet impact in Florida airport massacre
A LECTURER was saved from being shot in the back during the Fort Lauderdale massacre – when a stray bullet struck his LAPTOP.
American Steve Frappier dived for cover when Esteban Santiago opened fire – blasting a shot directly at the rucksack on his back.
The bullet deflected off his silver laptop in his bag – coming to rest in a pocket.
He only discovered how close he had come to being shot in the back when he checked himself over after the mass shooting.
Mr Frappier, who shoved the computer in his rucksack as the incident kicked off, said: “The backpack saved my life. I was on the ground like a tortoise with the backpack."
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He added: “It was only later when I went to the bathroom to check myself out that I found the bullet had entered my backpack and hit my laptop.”
The gunman shot dead five people and injured eight others at Fort Lauderdale airport's baggage reclaim.
Prime suspect Esteban Santiago was said to be known to authorities after he reportedly walked into the FBI office "claiming he was being forced to fight for ISIS".
He is said to have spoken to authorities about the terror group in November.
The suspect's aunt Maria Ruiz Rivera claimed the alleged shooter "lost his mind" while fighting in Iraq.
When quizzed why Santiago may have opened fire at passengers, her husband, Hernan Rivera, said: "No idea. Only thing I could tell you was when he came out of Iraq, he wasn't feeling too good."
Santiago reportedly loaded the gun, which he had carried on a flight from Alaska to Florida, via Minneapolis, in the bathroom and came out shooting.
Santiago is thought to have flown into Fort Lauderdale on a Delta flight from Anchorage, Alaska.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio said that prime suspect Esteban Santiago may have become embroiled in an altercation on his flight, the reports.
Senator Rubio said: “I know that was mentioned as a potential cause and they wanted to kind of look into that a little further and get to that point.”
A military spokeswoman says the suspect in a deadly shooting at the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, airport received a general discharge from the Alaska Army National Guard last year for unsatisfactory performance.