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Broward Commissioners Hold Closed Meeting On Airport Security

Armed police officers descended on Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after a shooting on Friday, Jan 6, 2017.
David Santiago
/
El Nuevo Herald
Armed police officers descended on Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after a shooting on Friday, Jan 6, 2017.

Days after a gunman killed five people at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Broward County commissioners held a closed-door meeting Tuesday to talk about airport security.

Florida law allows local governments to close meetings about security at facilities owned or leased by the state or county.

Broward County Attorney Joni Armstrong Coffey told the Miami Herald that only county officials and employees would attend, and that -- per state statute -- no record of the meeting would be made.

"The statute exempts these meetings entirely from the open meetings requirements," she told the Herald in an email. "That is because security sensitive information is confidential and prohibited from disclosure."

A 26-year-old Army veteran from Alaska is accused in the shooting, which also injured six people. Esteban Santiago made his initial court appearance Monday in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale. Authorities say Santiago specifically targeted the Fort Lauderdale airport, but they are still investigating the motive for the crime. Santiago underwent a mental health evaluation in November after he walked into the Anchorage FBI office and told authorities he was hearing voices.

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