An expensive flight prevented what could have been a close call for a Warman man set to fly home from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., this week, his wife tells CTV News.

Christine Bergeron says her husband Jamie, who was in Florida for work and set to fly home Saturday, looked at booking a flight for Friday after he finished his work early. He elected not to switch flights because of the high price — a move that meant he was not at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport early Friday afternoon when a gunman opened fire in the baggage claim area.

“It was definitely scary at first,” she said from their home in Warman.

“I knew he wasn’t at the airport because he didn’t end up changing his flight, but just knowing it was the airport he was supposed to be at, it was very scary. Thankfully, looking back now, the price was just too expensive.”

The gunman was an arriving airline passenger at the airport, according to authorities and witnesses. He pulled a gun from his luggage and opened fire, killing five people and wounding eight before throwing his weapon down and lying spread-eagle on the ground.

A Broward County official said the suspect came off a Canadian flight, but the Canadian Embassy later said the suspect "did not fly from Canada and was not on a Canadian flight."

The shooting happened at the airport's terminal 2, where Air Canada and Delta operate flights.

"We understand from officials he was on a flight originating in Anchorage, transiting through Minneapolis and landing in Ft. Lauderdale," Canadian Embassy spokeswoman Christine Constantin said in an email to The Associated Press.

The suspect was later identified by authorities as 26-year-old Esteban Santiago, an Army National Guard veteran from Anchorage, Alaska, who served in Iraq. He was immediately taken into custody, authorities said.

He had been receiving psychological treatment recently, according to his brother.

Christine Bergeron says her husband’s flight Saturday is still scheduled to leave Fort Lauderdale.

Security procedures at the Saskatoon airport remain normal, according to officials with the airport. No flights have been cancelled because of the Florida shootings.

--- with files from The Associated Press