Expelled teen’s deadly return
UNITED STATES: A former student opened fire at a Florida high school yesterday as classes were being dismissed, killing 17 people, wounding 15 and sending scores of students running into the streets to escape the bullets.
Frantic parents rushed to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where SWAT team members and ambulances had surrounded the campus. Live footage showed emergency workers treating the wounded on sidewalks.
‘‘It is a horrific situation,’' Superintendent Robert Runcie said. ‘‘It is a horrible day for us.’'
The Broward Sheriff’s Office said Nikolas Cruz, 19, walked the halls of the school wielding an AR15 assault rifle and equipped with multiple magazines. US Senator Bill Nelson of Florida said Cruz set off a fire alarm and then, wearing a gas mask, began tossing smoke bombs and shooting people as they ran through the haze.
Cruz was taken into custody without incident about an hour after he left the school, authorities said.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said Cruz had earlier been expelled from the school for disciplinary reasons.
Israel said 17 people were killed, including students and adults, with 12 killed inside the school, two outside, and one in the street as the gunman fled, and two dying from their wounds in hospital.
Dr Evan Boyar at Broward Health North said Cruz was treated at his hospital and released to police.
The school had held a morning fire drill, and students were in class around 2.30pm when another alarm sounded.
Noah Parness, a 17-year-old junior, said he and other students calmly went outside to their fire drill assembly areas when he suddenly heard popping sounds.
‘‘We saw a bunch of teachers running down the stairway, and then everybody shifted and broke into a sprint,’' Parness said. ‘‘I hopped a fence.’'
Beth Feingold said her daughter, Brittani, sent a text that said, ‘‘We’re on code red. I’m fine,’' but sent another text shortly afterwards saying, ‘‘Mom, I’m so scared’'.
Brittani was able to escape the campus but was running along a busy road for part of the time, in what was a very chaotic scene around the school – one of the largest in the county, with about 3000 students.
Inside, students heard loud bangs as the shooter opened fire. Many of them hid under desks or in closets, and barricaded doors.
Live footage showed those students who fled leaving in single file with their hands over their heads as police officers urged them to evacuate quickly.
Parents hurried to the scene. Caesar Figueroa said that when he got to the school to check on his 16-year-old daughter, he saw police officers drawing machineguns as they approached the campus.
‘‘My wife called me that there was an active shooter and the school was on lockdown. I got on the road and saw helicopters ... It was crazy, and my daughter wasn’t answering her phone.’' She finally texted him that she was hiding in a closet with friends.
Len Murray’s 17-year-old son, a junior at the school, sent his parents a chilling text: ‘‘Mom and Dad, there have been shots fired on campus at school. There are police sirens outside. I’m in the auditorium and the doors are locked.’' A few minutes later, he texted again: ‘‘I’m fine.’'
Murray said he raced to the school, only to be stopped by authorities under a highway overpass within view of the school buildings.
Authorities told parents to gather at a nearby hotel to get information. ‘‘I’m scared for the other parents here. You can see the concern in everybody’s faces. Everybody is asking, ‘Have you heard from your child yet?’,’' Murray said.
He said he had just one thought running through his mind since he got his son’s text.
‘‘All I keep thinking about is when I dropped him off this morning. I usually say, `I love you,’ and I didn’t this morning.
‘‘I’m just kicking myself right now over and over and over. Say it early and often, I’m telling you.’'
– AP, TNS