HUGE FLA. CROWD PRESSES FOR GUN CONTROL
PARKLAND, Fla. — Thousands of angry students, parents, teachers and neighbors of a Florida high school where 17 people were killed demanded yesterday that immediate action be taken on gun-control legislation, insisting they would not relent until their demands were met.
The rally in downtown Fort Lauderdale gave a political outlet to the growing feelings of rage and mourning sparked by the carnage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Authorities say a former student, who had been expelled, had mental health issues and been reported to law enforcement, used a legally purchased semiautomatic rifle to kill students and staff.
“Because of these gun laws, people that I know, people that I love, have died, and I will never be able to see them again,” Delaney Tarr, a student at the school, told the crowd swamping the steps and courtyard at the federal courthouse.
The crowd chanted: “Vote them out!” and held signs calling for action. Some read: “#Never Again,” “#Do something now” and “Don’t Let My Friends Die.”
Student Emma Gonzalez told the crowd politicians should stop taking donations from the National Rifle Association.
“A lot of people are saying that
these kids are activists, these kids need to be politicians,” she later told a reporter. “But a lot of us are just other students who figured there’s strength in numbers.”
Laurie Woodward Garcia, the mother of a 14-year-old girl, echoed many in the crowd who said they believed that this shooting would lead to change, though so many others had not.
“If there’s something that we can unite on as Democrats and Republicans and Independents, it’s our children. So it will happen,” she said.
The rally came as new details emerged about the suspect, Nikolas Cruz.
From a mosaic of public records, interviews with friends and family and online interactions, it appears Cruz 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.
Cruz’s mother died in November and his father died years ago.
He reportedly left a suburban Palm Beach County mobile home where he had been staying after his mother’s death because his benefactor gave him an ultimatum: you or the gun.
Earlier, Florida’s child welfare agency investigated after Cruz cut himself in an online video, but found him stable, according to state records.
According to published reports, DCF’s investigation was completed Nov. 12 and concluded Cruz had not been mistreated by his mother, was receiving adequate care from a mental health counselor and was attending school.
Cruz had been diagnosed with autism, a neurological disorder that often leads to social awkwardness and isolation, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.
The FBI said a person close to Cruz called the FBI’s tip line and provided information about Cruz’s weapons and his erratic behavior. The caller was concerned Cruz could attack a school. The agency acknowledged the tip should have been shared with the FBI’s Miami office and investigated, but it was not.