At least 17 people have been confirmed dead from a shooting at a high school in Florida and 14 others were injured.
The suspect, identified as 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, reportedly pulled the fire alarm at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL at around 2:40 pm, the time that school gets out. Cruz allegedly opened fire both inside the campus and outside the campus; the campus was put onto a Code Red lockdown until the shooter was apprehended.
Twelve of the murdered victims were shot dead inside the school, two died outside the school and two others died in the hospital.
A number of harrowing accounts of what occurred at the school have been shared by various students. Freshman Jason Snytte told NBC News that he was in class when they heard gunshots blaring, prompting them to shut the door and gather in a corner until they were evacuated by police.
“We were all freaking out,” Snytte said. “Our hearts were racing.”
Another student, 14-year-old Hannah Siren, tearfully described to the Sun-Sentinel how 7-10 people were shot in the classroom next to hers.
“The people next door to us must have not locked their door,” Siren said. “They all got shot.
Students who were outside thinking that the fire alarm had gone off as part of a fire drill bolted as soon as they heard the gunshots; some had to jump the fence to escape.
“Everyone was kind of just standing there calm, and then we saw a bunch of teachers running down the stairway, and then everybody shifted and broke into a sprint,” junior Noah Parness told CBS News. “I hopped a fence.”
Devral Walton, mother of 15-year-old student Meghan Walton, told the Sun-Sentinel that she saw students “running out full of blood.”
“Kids were falling in the grass,” Walton said.
Here are a couple of videos from inside the school during the shooting:
https://twitter.com/Melody_Ball/status/963899789070028800
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/963892402560884742
Cruz had previously been expelled from the school; he reportedly threatened students and was eventually told that he could not return to the campus with a backpack. Some students who knew him had been predicting that he would eventually become a school shooter. Others described him as a loner who was not socially accepted by anyone in the school.
One student claimed that Cruz once wore a Trump hat and made derogatory comments about Islam.
Cruz’s social media accounts show multiple pictures of guns and knives; according to Fox News he had been “following resistance groups, like Syrian Resistance groups and fighter groups out of Iraq and, we should also note that a couple days ago, as far as a week ago, that he was involved in a YouTube chat room conversation about bombs or building bombs.”
The weapon that Cruz reportedly used was an AR-15 and he carried multiple magazines. The school itself is a gun-free zone.
President Trump tweeted his condolences:
My prayers and condolences to the families of the victims of the terrible Florida shooting. No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2018
