(Instagram photo)
PARKLAND, FLORIDA – A 19-year-old Florida man who had reportedly been expelled from a high school went back there with his AR-15 rifle and killed 17 people Wednesday.
In what is said to be the 18th school shooting this year in the United States, Nicholas Cruz went to Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and attacked with an AR-15 rifle before he was later caught and jailed.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the active shooter situation that afternoon. Responding deputies were met with hundreds of students fleeing the school. Investigators later learned that the shooter had concealed himself in the crowd and was among those running out of the school.
After watching school security video, investigators were able to identify the shooter as Nikolas Cruz, 19. Cruz had attended and was expelled from the school the previous year.
Cruz was taken into custody by Coconut Creek PD in a nearby neighborhood in Coral Springs. Cruz exhibited labored breathing. He was transported to a local hospital as a precaution for medical clearance.
Seventeen victims were transported to Broward Health Coral Springs, Broward Health North, Broward Health Medical Center and Boca West Medical Center. Two of the 17 victims who were transported died at the hospital.
Fifteen victims died at the school. BSO investigators are working with Broward County Schools staff to identify all of the victims.
Students were bused from Stoneman Douglas High School to a nearby hotel to be reunited with their families.
Initially, the Broward School District reported, “Today, close to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s dismissal, students and staff heard what sounded like gunfire. The school immediately went on lockdown but is now dismissing students. We are receiving reports of possible multiple injuries. Law enforcement is on site.”
School Superintendent Robert Runcie later said, “Today we experiencing the worst of humanity as an unspeakable tragedy has hit our @browardschools family at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS. There has been a shooting on campus with injuries and fatalities. We are working with law enforcement as we pray for our babies and families.”
President Donald Trump weighed in on the tragedy, saying, “So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem.”
National media immediately began to link the NRA (National Rifle Association) to the root of the cause of this mass shooting and others. Reportedly, many U.S. Senators take millions of dollars in donations from the NRA, including Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, who each have collected over $3 million.
“Today is a day of healing. Today is a day of mourning,” said Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel. “It’s catastrophic. There really are no words.”
TMZ reported that Cruz had in recent months made a social media post saying things like, “I wish to kill as many as I can” and “I am going to kill them in the future.”
The Broward school district reported that “Grief counselors are available for all of our students, families and staff.” Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will be closed Thursday, February 15 and Friday, February 16, 2018, (for the rest of this week). All school activities are also cancelled.
A Sunset vigil is planned for later Thursday evening.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds ordered all state flags in Iowa to be lowered to half-staff effective immediately until sunset on Monday, February 19, 2018, to honor the murdered and injured in Wednesday’s tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The governor’s order is issued in conjunction with President Donald Trump’s order to lower all United States flags to half-staff for the same length of time.
The FBI is accepting tips from the public on the incident, here.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi warned those who try to defraud people with Parkland GoFundMe accounts will be prosecuted. The Broward County sheriff’s office said “the official page where you can help victims and their families” is here: https://www.gofundme.com/stonemandouglasvictimsfund
CRUZ:
Update from BSO on school shooting. https://t.co/BKSPC643qy
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) February 15, 2018
Alleged Shooter Nikolas Cruz Threatened Mass Campus Shooting 9 Months Ago https://t.co/tGLReWP0bN
— TMZ (@TMZ) February 15, 2018
Mass shootings are getting deadlier. And the latest ones all have something new in common: The AR-15 https://t.co/Ov6BVchmeQ pic.twitter.com/RwhWNvjRTk
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) February 15, 2018
So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2018
Steve Kerr’s powerful message on the shooting massacre in Florida. pic.twitter.com/Lo4k66JG4G
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) February 15, 2018
The entire football community is grieving the loss of Coach Aaron Feis and all those who tragically lost their lives yesterday. https://t.co/geIMyMQ3Ld
— Roger Goodell (@nflcommish) February 15, 2018
Watch the Steve Kerr video above.
He hits the problem right on the head!
Powerful, and true, message
At least he is a man of his word and follows through on his plans!!
Are you saying that if Mrs. Clinton had gotten more money from the Russians for the 20% of Americas uranium she stole and sold to them she would have won the election – Sheeez – I would have never thought of that aspect. My question is why is Trump under investigation for collusion with the Russians and not you hero Hitlery ??
Because he colluded with them. That’s pretty simple – just like you.
She has been to quiet of late. She up something. Book came out way to fast. At the end of day the secret cabal she represents is most likely globalist hell bent on revenge. I didn’t want to live in a tiny yurt anyways. lol
The FBI is not above the law. And sending their henchmen after you because they can is going to stop. There are a few other government agency that don’t like there tactics. Let these people figure it out. It still a stands. They lost the election. No more money for the few it will shared by all. The American way. Ms Clinton lost because she didn’t have enough money. Roflmao
Time to clean house. Four years to do that. Freeloaders on their way out the door will get one last check and a box of ‘snap food’. lol
Enough is enough. You are not taking away the guns. And calling everything ‘mental illness’ because it does not fit into your world is a bold face lie. This person was a killer because of the world a few created. Identify the problem, solve it. What about those people getting killed in Chicago. Mental illness. A community is only as strong as it’s weakest link. Give people jobs. Everybody. Did this person who committed this horrendous act have a job? He was isolated and an outcast. Like all the rest. Jobs build character.
Public servants dropped the ball on this guy – they were warned way back – couch potato liberals sitting on their azzes not taking action or giving a shit about this situation. Fire em ! Yea right – fire a public servant – impossible as they have a built in protection policy no matter how corrupt or stupid they are – forgot lazy.
Crazies will get the job done, no matter what weapons are available. Time to start snubbing out people with mental glitches. Then donate their organs for something good.
This post ought to get you noticed by the FBI. You are a home grown terrorist.
The fbi knew about this pos – he posted on facebook that he wanted to be a professional school shooter and was reported to the fbi – local police knew he was a radical and so did the school representatives – so tell me — WHY was he NOT on the FBI data base background check list for no sale ? He then went out and purchased the AR 15 from a gun dealer – you don’t need anymore gun laws you just have to have some responsible people with common sense enforcing laws already on the books. – The FBI is becoming a sick joke along with their demorat liberal crooked agenda.
The republicraps are the ones who want everybody packing machine guns. The local cops should have been on this, not the feds. If republicraps weren’t addicted to NRA money, none of this would have happened, and I say that as a legal gun owner.
And the media is again throwing out that ‘covers all situations’ term mental illness. Call it like it is. Maybe he was slow. Maybe he was retarded in his growth. He was a cold, calculating killer. A product of our societies ills. Since they couldn’t pin mental illness on the Vegas shooter there calling him the ‘Black Swan’ of all these shooting. All the rest are ‘mental illness’ shooters. No, there killers. Get rid of the assaults rifles. These leaders need to grow a pair. Do what right.
The FBI knew about this kid for over a year , but noooo there to busy trying to find someone who knows someone that helped someone that knew Trump .
Correct!
Your first mistake is calling this kid a man. He’s no man. Men develop around 25 years of age…which should be the minimal age to pwn weapons, purchase alcohol, enlist in the military, and serve as a police officer. It’s time for society to wake up and stop pretending it has the answers to its dilemmas. It does not. Furthermore, every citizen has a right to protect themselves against this government’s abject failures.
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Go to any big city and you will see mental illness for what it truly is in the homeless population. A few people here and there totally out of their heads. Complete break from the reality surrounding them. The rest are just down and out and are coherent in thought. This guys not insane he’s a killer. He had access to a battlefield weapon of mass destruction and he was cold and calculating in thought. This is what a army trains you to do. Society has those popular shoot’em up games for fun. Fine line here. My thoughts and prayers go out to those poor children.
online schooling is the way of the future ! You get rid of the costs of brick an mortar, etc. for tax payers .
I believe that pistol in the picture might be a pellet gun.
You can kill someone with a pellet gun if you hit them right.
Same thing with a karate chop.
It all starts with morality, yes there are those that are evil & nothing will stop them from becoming MORE evil but, start with the home, expand to the schools learning and reinforcing what is RIGHT and what is WRONG, enough with I will accept you no matter how you act or what you do and believe; (there are reasons why a lot of other countries don’t have these school shootings) they expect a *normal, (lack of right *word) way of acting.
If you allow someone to put out a air of defiance against society with everyone else saying, “that’s not normal” then do something about it. Letting these things you know are not right can and has shown be the end result of tragic actions. Pressure cooker bombs have been used when evil has not been able to buy guns, so people need to realize crazy people will find a way to hurt, unless society can see symptoms and stop before tragedy happens again.
Very well done. Your opinion is filled with thought and compassion. I recall growing up on a street with other kids where the mothers were in the home. She had very persuasive ways of teaching you right from wrong. Class sizes in schools were much bigger then. A kid that was stepping out of line was weeded out and quickly brought back into the fold. Mothers were everywhere then and her wrath was not to be taking lightly. Evil didn’t stand a chance. Morality at it’s finest.
But alas, women have followed hell bent men into the void of greed.
Another horrific shooting. The media is zeroing in on mental illness as the cause. When driving down a freeway in a big city half the people you will encounter are one step away from mental illness then. People snap from too much pressure. The face of anger is rooted in resentment and bitterness. People seek attention through copycatting others. Perhaps America is no longer in God’s favor.
I’d agree with your last sentence.
Mental illness is certainly a problem, but it’s also true that some people are plain evil. Any law enforcement will tell you that.
You can see it every day in our courts.