Seventeen people were shot to death and several others wounded Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in a horrific episode of school violence that ended with the arrest of a former student.
Panicked parents streamed to this affluent section of northwest Broward County, as news helicopters broadcast the incident live and students congregated on streets, many crying, hugging and calling friends and family.
In a grainy Snapchat video from the school, a man yelled, “Oh, my God,” as the pop-pop, pop-pop of gunshots rang out and students screamed.
The suspected Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter was identified as Nikolas Cruz, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said Wednesday evening…
The suspect, 19-year-old former student Nikolaus Cruz, is in custody, the sheriff said. The sheriff said he was expelled for unspecified disciplinary reasons. Police are investigating his digital profile, he said. So far, what they’ve found is “very, very disturbing,” Israel said.
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According to other students, Cruz was the subject of jokes from other kids. A student told WFOR-TV that other students “knew it was going to be him.”
“A lot of people were saying it was going to be him. A lot of kids threw jokes around saying that he was going to be the one to shoot up the school,” the student said. “It turns out that everyone predicted it. That’s crazy.”
Seventeen-year-old junior Matthew Walker spoke to ABC News, saying Cruz was known to show off knives and guns on his social media accounts.
“He was going class to class just shooting at random kids,” he said. “Everything he posts [on social media] is about weapons. It’s sick.”
