The horrifying events at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport today saw five people dead, but one man claims that his MacBook Pro saved his life in the midst of the shooting. Speaking to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Steve Frappier explained that he was near the baggage claim area when he heard gunfire and fell to the floor to try and protect himself…
Frappier had his backpack on when he fell to the ground, meaning the backpack was offering some protection to him as he lay there while shots were fired. While lying on the ground, Frappier felt something hit his back, but thought it was luggage falling off of the carousel at first, he explained to Cooper.
Once the situation had calmed, Frappier took his school-issued MacBook Pro out of his backpack to find a bullet in the bottom of the backpack’s front pocket and bullet damage on the laptop itself.
Frappier immediately took his backpack and MacBook Pro to the FBI, who then concluded that the 9 mm bullet was indeed from the weapon used by the gunman, who has now been identified as Esteban Santiago.
According to Frappier, he had quickly slid the MacBook Pro into his backpack before exiting his plane, accidentally leaving the flap slightly open. The FBI believes that the bullet passed through the slight opening, first hitting the laptops display and continuing through the aluminum body and battery of the MacBook before exiting through the side intake vents.
This isn’t the first time an Apple product has been credited for taking the brunt force of a gunshot. In 2015, a gunshot victim claimed that their iPhone 5c saved their life. The device was simply in the victim’s pocket and thus took the primary force of the shot, with investigators concluding that “had that phone not been in his pocket at that time he would undoubtedly have died.”
Frappier said he had quickly stuffed his laptop into his bag, leaving it open while disembarking from his flight earlier.
“It hit just so through the open backpack, exited, ran through the laptop and the casing and landed in an interior pocket of the backpack,” he said.
Watch video of Frappier explaining his harrowing experience on CNN.
