‘Many die’ as gunman runs amok at a school
A GUNMAN was feared to have killed “many” people and injured dozens more in a rampage at a US high school yesterday.
Terror erupted at the 3,200-student Florida school in mid-afternoon, with pupils diving for cover in cupboards and hiding in classrooms as shots rang out.
At least 15 people were carried away on stretchers and others were seen “lying all over the ground hurt”, according to witnesses.
The gunman was said to have set off a fire alarm and then begun shooting as students poured out into corridors at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, north of Miami.
At the height of the chaos one witness said: “It’s like a war zone with cops, machine guns, helicopters.”
State Senator Bill Nelson said “there are many deaths” but authorities were unable to confirm more than two.
Another senator said: “This is a bad day.”
It is understood the gunman was arrested about 90 minutes after the mayhem began in Parkland – previously regarded as one of the state’s safest cities.
Student Nicole Baltzer, 18, said she was in a maths class about 10 minutes before the end of the school day when the fire alarm went off. As the building was evacuated, she heard shooting and everyone started running back inside.
She said: “I heard so many gunshots, at least like six. They were very close.”
Another student said: “Everyone just started freaking out. We all thought it was a fire drill but then word started going around that it was shots. Everyone just started running.”
Heavily armed police surrounded the building and evacuated the school, building by building, after emergency services declared a mass casualty incident. Panicked pupils fled across a road by the entrance as paramedics treated victims on the pavement.
One terrified family member told how he had spoken to his sister who was trapped inside the school.
He said: “She answered the phone, just trembling after she saw people shot. It is just chaos here. She was in complete shock. She was numb.”
Father Caesar Figueroa said: “My daughter is with a friend and is trapped in a closet. She is afraid to talk out loud. The FBI is here.”
Lissette Rozenblat said her daughter escaped from the school and was taking shelter at a nearby store.
Ms Rozenblat said: “She’s a nervous wreck. She could hear a person who was shot crying for help.”
The region’s public schools chief Robert Runcie said it was the day he had prayed “we will never have to see”.
President Donald Trump tweeted condolences, saying: “No child, teacher or anyone else should feel unsafe in an American school.”