Police release interview transcripts in Parkland case

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School told investigators he encountered shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz in a stairwell as he was loading his AR-15 rifle, according to police interview transcripts released Friday.

The student’s account is part of the prosecution’s case against Cruz, who is charged with 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the Valentine’s Day massacre in Parkland, Florida. The student, whose name was redacted, says he was on a bathroom break when he found Cruz pulling the rifle out of a bag.

He told authorities Cruz said this: “You better get out of here. Something bad is about to happen. … And then he just, he told me to run. So I ran.”

Another interview released Friday was with a Stoneman Douglas security monitor who was in the building just as Cruz entered. The monitor, whose name is also redacted but whom school officials have identified as David Taylor, said he saw Cruz carrying the gun bag from about a 50-yard distance down a school hallway. He had been alerted to Cruz’s presence by another monitor, Andrew Medina.

He said he ran up to the second floor to try to intercept Cruz but did not see the teen. Then the gunshots started.

Taylor, like Medina an assistant baseball coach at Stoneman Douglas, told detectives that he knew Cruz well from his time at the school and had frequently taken him out of class for defiant behavior and being disrespectful to teachers.