Cruise line offered counselling after airport shooting

The rampage killed five people, wounded six and touched off chaos that prompted police to lock down the airport until evening, causing delays and separating many people from their belongings.

Mark Lea, 53, of Elk River, Minnesota, witnessed the shooting, helped a wounded woman, photographed the shooter’s weapon in the baggage claim area — then spent much of Friday night in the airport, waiting to be released from the crime scene by authorities.

When he was, he went to his hotel. He and his wife decided to continue on with their cruise because it was their first anniversary. Once aboard his ship, he wasn’t sure how many of the other passengers had witnessed the carnage in the airport — and wasn’t keen on finding out.

“Been keeping pretty low key and trying to decompress,” he said.

The mood aboard the Holland American Eurodam ship late Saturday was “subdued,” said Sandy Robertson, a 61-year-old retired school principal from the Chicago area.

Although Robertson and her husband Tom arrived before the shooting happened, others passengers aboard the ship had lived through the ordeal.

As Robertson was headed to dinner Saturday night before the ship left port, she was reflective. A veteran of 10 cruises, she noted that the ship’s captain was making more announcements than usual, and had thanked the passengers for being patient. She also discovered at least one of the victims who died was scheduled to be on her ship.

“We’re all kind of feeling like, ‘Oh my gosh, here we are on this beautiful cruise ship and these families were affected,’” she said. “I look at this beautiful ship right now and am having dinner thinking about folks who are supposed to be here.”

Holland America delayed the departure of its Niew Amsterdam ship Friday by several hours largely because passengers were kept at the airport while authorities investigated the shooting. There was also a matter of luggage; the airport’s director says 25,000 pieces of luggage, cellphones and other belongings were separated from their owners during the shooting rampage.

The Eurodam was delayed until 9 p.m., Andrews said. Two passengers were unable to catch the Costa Deliziosa from Port Everglades on Saturday, so the company flew them to Nassau in the Bahamas to catch the ship.

A Carnival Cruises ship that took off Friday was supposed to have about 20 passengers who were delayed at the airport. Carnival planned to fly them to Nassau over the weekend, Carnival spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz said.

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Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush .

Tamara Lush, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Cruise line offered counselling after airport shooting

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