People are brought out of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after
a shooting at the school that killed 17 people on February 14, 2018 in
Parkland, Florida. PHOTO | JOE RAEDLE | AFP
A
former student armed with an AR-15 rifle opened fire at a Florida high
school on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people, officials said, in a
harrowing shooting spree that saw terrified students hiding in closets
and under desks as they texted for help.
Broward
County Sheriff Scott Israel identified the gunman as Nikolas Cruz, 19, a
former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland who
had been expelled for "disciplinary reasons."
Cruz
was arrested without incident in the nearby town of Coral Springs after
the Valentine's Day rampage and taken to hospital with minor injuries,
the sheriff said.
"We have already
begun to dissect his websites and things on social media that he was on
and some of the things... are very, very disturbing," Israel said.
"He had countless magazines, multiple magazines, and at this point, we believe he had one AR-15 rifle," the sheriff added.
Israel said both students and adults had been
killed. He was uncertain about the exact number of people injured, but
at least 14 were taken to hospital and two had died there of their
wounds.
The shooting, one of nearly
20 since the start of the year, will once again throw the spotlight on
the epidemic of gun violence in the United States and the ready
accessibility of weapons in a country with 33,000 gun-related deaths
annually.
"This is a terrible day for
Parkland," Israel said, speaking of the city of about 30,000 people,
located 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Miami.
"My very own triplets went to that school."
A teacher at the school told The Miami Herald that Cruz had been identified previously as a potential threat to his classmates.
"We
were told last year that he wasn't allowed on campus with a backpack on
him," math teacher Jim Gard said. "There were problems with him last
year threatening students, and I guess he was asked to leave campus."
Cruz was also said to have been in the Junior ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) program while at school.
A
law enforcement source told CBS News that the gunman pulled a fire
alarm before opening fire, but Israel said he could not confirm that
report.
'EVERYONE STARTED RUNNING'
Parkland
Mayor Christine Hunschofsky told CNN she had spoken to a number of
students after the shooting erupted shortly after 2pm local time
"They were very scared," she said. "And almost in shock when they came out."
Television
images showed students, some with their hands in the air, being led out
of the school by heavily armed police officers and an armored vehicle
filled with a SWAT team on the scene.
Student
Jeiella Dodoo told CBS News that she and her schoolmates had evacuated
their classroom calmly after hearing what they thought had been a
routine fire alarm.
"The alarm went off so we had to evacuate from our classes," she said. "Then we heard gunshots.
"I
heard about six gunshots," she said, "and then some people started
running and then everyone started running because we were like 'If it's
real, then just run.'"
Teacher Melissa Falkowski told US networks that she had helped 19 students squeeze into a closet with her.
"We were in there for probably 40 minutes. We were locked in the closet until SWAT came and got us," she told CNN.
Police
officers in helmets, bulletproof vests and armed with automatic weapons
could be seen stationed at several points around the sprawling school
complex, which serves nearly 3,000 students.
"Just a horrible day for us," said the superintendent of the county's school district, Robert Runcie.
"This
is very sad to me and our family too," 61-year-old Joseph
Panikulangara, whose 17-year-old niece Dhiya attends the school, told
AFP.
The FBI said it was assisting local law enforcement with the investigation.
When
asked about security, Hunschofsky said a police officer is always
stationed at the school and there was a "single point of entry."
NO CHILD SHOULD 'FEEL UNSAFE'
President Donald Trump offered his "prayers and condolences to the families of the victims.
"No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school," he said on Twitter.
Since
the December 2012 massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in
Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 children and six adults were shot dead,
warning procedures and emergency drills have multiplied at US schools.
But
since January 2013, there have been at least 291 school shootings
across the country — an average of about one a week, according to
Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit group that advocates for gun
control.
"It is pretty clear that
we're failing our kids here," said Falkowski, the teacher who helped
shield her students from harm in a closet.
"I'm not saying the solution is one thing or another, but this does not happen in other countries the way it happens here."
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