My lazy, uneventful holiday break was broken by the alarming Snapchat story of a friend at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport in Florida, at which there was a mass shooting just before 1 PM on Friday, January 6. While my friend is safe, thankfully, others weren't so fortunate.

The shooting took place at the baggage-claim area at Terminal 2 of Fort Lauderdale's International Airport, killing 5 and injuring dozens. The suspect is 26-year-old Esteban Santiago, who was shot by the police and taken into custody, later transferred into federal custody. Santiago was reportedly silent as he carried out the massacre, shooting people waiting for their baggage in an "execution style," and after he ran out of bullets he threw down his gun and laid on the ground in a spread eagle position. As of now it appears that he acted alone, but terrorism has not been ruled out. Santiago, now in federal custody, will appear at court on Monday.

Santiago, born in New Jersey but raised in Puerto Rico, served in Puerto Rico's National Guard and was deployed to Iraq in 2010. Upon his return from Iraq, his aunt told reporters that Santiago started acting strangely, claiming to see things. He also served in the Alaska National Guard when he moved to Anchorage in 2014, but he received a general discharge in August for "unsatisfactory performance." The suspect's brother, Bryan Santiago, informed authorities that Santiago was receiving some form of psychological treatment while he was staying in Alaska.

Santiago flew from Anchorage, Alaska to Fort Lauderdale on Thursday night, arriving late Friday morning. That morning he apparently used a gun he'd checked into his luggage to carry out the shooting at the baggage-claim. According to its website, the Transportation Security Administration allows passengers to transport unloaded firearms in a locked, hard-sided container as checked baggage only, with only the passenger having the key or combination to the lock on the container. The firearm must also be declared every single time you present it for transport as checked baggage.

All services at the airport have been shut down, but are expected to resume at 5 AM on Sunday.

I would like to offer my condolences to the victims of this tragedy and to express my hopes that no other disasters will darken our entrance into the new year.