FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Travelers caught in the chaos during a mass shooting at a Fort Lauderdale airport must now think about their lost items and luggage left behind.
Student DeAndre Cheri is finally headed home.
“I was going back to college and basically I can’t get my bag, so I couldn’t even go home. I left my school ID, I was booked Sunday to go back,” Cheri said.
Cheri will return home, and to school, wearing the clothes on his back.
His luggage is among more than 20,000 bags still not returned to their owners, who left them behind while fleeing Friday’s mayhem.
Officials with Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) are asking hundreds of travelers to call a hotline to claim their lost items and baggage left behind in Friday’s chaos.
Those who haven’t claimed their luggage are asked to call 1 (866) 435-9355.
Those who have called about their lost items, are asked to wait for the company to contact them.
The baggage company and airlines started distributing items that had been left at the airport on Sunday.
Friday’s mass shooting left 5 people dead, 6 injured and hundreds of travelers stranded at the airport for hours.
Meantime, the man accused of going on a shooting rampage at the airport appeared in a federal courtroom in Fort Lauderdale.
Esteban Santiago, 26, faces airport violence and firearms charges. If he’s convicted, he could be facing the death penalty. He has been held without bail since his arrest after Friday’s shooting.
Santiago told investigators that he planned the attack, buying a one-way ticket to the Fort Lauderdale airport, a federal complaint said.
“We have not identified any triggers that would have caused this attack. We’re pursuing all angles on what prompted him to carry out this horrific attack,” FBI Agent George Piro said.
Investigators are combing through social media and other information to determine Santiago’s motive, and it’s too early to say whether terrorism played a role, Piro said.
