Thousands rally for stricter gun laws in Fla.

PARKLAND, Fla. — Thousands of angry students, parents and residents demanded stricter gun control laws Saturday as new details were revealed about the suspect accused of shooting and killed 17 people in a Florida high school.

The rally, held in downtown Fort Lauderdale, was attended by scores of students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where the carnage happened.

Teens spoke passionately during Saturday’s rally in front of the federal courthouse, pleading with lawmakers to change the nation’s gun laws.

One student, Emma Gonzalez, angrily criticized politicians who take campaign contributions from the National Rifle Association. She challenged them to stop taking money, leading the crowd in a call-andresponse chant.

“They say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun,” she said, and the crowd chanted, “We call BS.”

She also said adults who knew that the shooter was mentally ill should have done more to prevent him from having a weapon.

From a mosaic of public records, interviews with friends and family and online interactions, it appears that Nikolas Cruz, 19, was unstable and violent to himself and those around him — and that when notified about his threatening behavior, law enforcement did little to stop it.

Florida’s child welfare agency investigated after he cut himself in an online video but found him stable, according to state records obtained by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The FBI said it received a tip last month that Cruz had a “desire to kill” and access to guns and could be plotting an attack, but agents failed to investigate.

Cruz faces 17 counts of first-degree murder.