Teen charged over school shooting
Accused legally held rifle used in horrific attack
US: An orphaned 19-year-old who participated in paramilitary drills with a white nationalist group has been charged with murder over the deaths of 17 people who were shot at a Florida high school.
Nikolas Cruz legally purchased the AR-15 rifle used in the assault at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
AN ORPHANED 19-year-old who participated in paramilitary drills with a white nationalist group has been charged with murder over the deaths of 17 people who were shot at a Florida high school.
Nikolas Cruz legally purchased the AR-15 rifle used in the assault at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, law enforcement officials said.
A Florida judge ordered that the suspect be held without bail on 17 counts of murder. Cruz was wearing an orange jumpsuit with his hands cuffed at his waist during the hearing yesterday afternoon.
His lawyer did not contest the order and had her arm around Cruz during the brief court appearance.
As the criminal case against the suspect took shape, the leader of a white nationalist militia called the Republic of Florida said Cruz was a member of his group and participated in exercises in Tallahassee.
Jordan Jereb said he did not know Cruz personally and that “he acted on his own behalf ” and is “solely responsible for what he just did”.
The group wants Florida to become its own white ethno-state.
Mr Jereb said his organisation holds “spontaneous random demonstrations” and tries not to participate in the modern world.
He also said Cruz had “trouble with a girl” and that he believed the timing of the attack, on Valentine’s Day, was not a coincidence.
In a national address from the White House, President Donald Trump said he wanted America’s children to know: “You are never alone, and you never will be.”
He planned to travel to Florida to meet victims’ families, explore how to better secure schools and to “tackle the difficult issue of mental health”.
At no point did Mr Trump mention guns or how to control them.
Former president Barack Obama called for “common-sense gun safety laws”, tweeting: “We are grieving with Parkland. But we are not powerless. Caring for our kids is our first job.”
He added: “And until we can honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep them safe from harm, including long overdue, common-sense gun safety laws that most Americans want, then we have to change.”
The former Democratic president held office through multiple mass shootings.
He pushed to tighten access to firearms but was blocked by the Republican-controlled Congress.
Thirteen wounded survivors of the attack were taken to hospital, including two people in critical condition.
Some bodies remained inside the school on Thursday as authorities investigate the crime scene, the sheriff said.
The victims included a school sports director and another adult who worked as a monitor at the school. It was the nation’s deadliest school shooting since a gunman attacked a primary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.
The overall death toll differs by how such shootings are defined, but Everytown For Gun Safety has tallied 291 school shootings in America since 2013. This attack makes 18 so far this year. Cruz legally purchased the AR-15 used in the attack about a year ago, law enforcement officials said.
Victoria Olvera, 17, said Cruz was expelled in the last school year because he got into a fight with his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend. She said he had been abusive to the girl. “I think everyone had in their minds if anybody was going to do it, it was going to be him,” said Dakota Mutchler, also 17.