Trump silent on gun laws, Florida shooter confesses

Cruz wanted to become a ‘professional school shooter’

Nikolas Cruz, 19, is not old enough to order himself a beer, but in the US state of Florida, he was able to legally buy a semi-automatic rifle, which he used to go on a shooting spree in a high school.

On Thursday, Cruz confessed to gunning down 17 people with an AR-15 assault rifle the previous day. A day later, the US is still in shock, grappling with questions about easy accessibility to guns and the shooter’s “disturbed” mental health and the red flags that authorities missed.

Police said Cruz entered the school with the rifle and “began shooting students in the hallways and on the school grounds”. He also had “additional loaded magazines” in his backpack and had intended to kill more people.

He later admitted he discarded his rifle and tactical gear in order to blend in with the crowd to flee the campus. He then stopped at a Wal-Mart store and then at a McDonald’s. He was detained after police identified him using school security camera footage.

Addressing the country on Thursday, President Donald Trump — a supporter of gun rights — spoke of the need for making schools safe and paying more attention to mental health issues.

But critics noted he did not mention guns, nor did he address demands for gun law reforms.

In a tweet before the address, Trump focussed on Cruz’s mental health. He was “mentally disturbed”, Trump wrote, referring to a picture that is emerging of the shooter as a disturbed man, called “weird” and “violent” by people who knew him.

An angry and frustrated Lori Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter Alyssa was among the victims, said on CNN: “President Trump, please do something! How do we allow a gunman to come into our children’s school? How do they get through security? What security is there?

“The gunman — a crazy person — just walks right into the school, knocks down the window of my child’s door and starts shooting. Shooting her! And killing her!”

There have been suggestions that his posts on social media were red flags — at one point, he expressed a desire to become a “professional school shooter”. But the FBI, which was tipped off about the post in question in 2017, said there was not enough information on “the time, location or the true identity of the person who made that comment”.

The Anti-Defamation League, which tracks hate groups, said Cruz was associated with white supremacist group Republic of Florida, and took part in shooting exercises with it.

However, the group has denied it had anything to do with the shooting or that it had ordered Cruz to carry it out.