Shooting rampage kills 17 at Florida high school
Suspect, 19, said to be a troubled former student who had guns
A former student went on a shooting rampage at a Florida high school Wednesday, leaving 17 dead while panicked students barricaded themselves inside classrooms and frantic parents raced to the scene.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office said 12 of the dead were killed inside the school.
The gunman was arrested nearly two hours after the shooting was reported, authorities said.
The shooting happened about 2 p.m. at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, about 30 miles northwest of Fort Lauderdale.
“It’s a horrific situation. It’s just a horrible day for us,” Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie said. “This is a day we prayed would never happen in our county.”
The gunman was arrested nearly two hours later, authorities said. They identified the suspect as Nikolas Cruz, 19.
“This is catastrophic,” Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said. “There are really no words.”
The gunman was arrested off campus then taken to
a hospital, Israel said. Flanked by officers, the suspect was escorted into a police station wearing a hospital gown.
Some students and teachers who fled the school told reporters they knew the former student and that he had guns.
Math teacher Jim Gard told the Miami Herald that he taught the suspect last year, and said he was troubled.
“We were told last year that he wasn’t allowed on campus with a backpack on him,” Gard said. “There were problems with him last year threatening students, and I guess he was asked to leave campus.”
The school district said the shooting happened close to dismissal time. When students heard what sounded like gunfire, the school was placed on lockdown.
Television footage showed the terrifying moments outside the school.
Students ran single file from the building with their hands in the air, throwing backpacks into a large pile and huddling under trees across the street.
As students scrambled to safety, law enforcers with weapons drawn approached the building.
Worried parents crowded around the the school, some asking television crews what they should do to get information on their child, and students cried when they were reunited with their parents. Some of the injured were treated on sidewalks and loaded into ambulances.
Melissa Falkowski, a teacher at the school, told CNN she hid with her students in a closet until law enforcement cleared them.
Footage on local television stations showed SWAT officers entering a classroom with guns drawn and students shaking and crying as they held up their hands.
There have been at least six school shootings so far this year.