Yesterday afternoon, news broke that the eighteenth school shooting of 2018 had occurred in Parkland, Florida at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Right around 2:40 p.m., when school lets out in most of Broward County, instead of the school bell, shots rang out on the high school campus. As of last night, 17 people have been reported dead and 14 others have been injured. This makes it one of the deadliest mass high school shooting in modern U.S. history.
After dodging capture by mixing in with the crowd of students leaving campus, the shooter fled the scene to a nearby address, where he was apprehended by police and identified as 19-year-old former student, Nikolas Cruz. He was previously expelled from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas because of disciplinary issues. There had even been emails sent to teachers and staff cautioning against allowing him on campus with a backpack because of threats he had made against students in the past.
Courtesy: Twitter
The shooter’s social media pages have been unearthed and there are many images that should have been red flags. Across his two different Instagram pages which have since been deleted, Cruz has posted several photos of guns, knives and ammunition. On his most recent Instagram page he sports an infamous “Make America Great Again” hat and in his bio, there is just one word, “annihilator.” One of the more disturbing photos depicts a variety of large weapons and other gear laid out on a bed, Cruz aptly captioned the photo “arsenal.”
Senator Bill Nelson details the shooter’s method, “The shooter wore a gas mask, had smoke grenades, and he set off the fire alarm so the kids would come out of the classrooms.” After the students began exiting, the shooting started. Once the police were on the scene and began evacuating the students, victims were taken to three different hospitals in the Broward Area. Worried parents hoping to claim their children were directed to a nearby Marriott Hotel where families were reunited.
The state of Florida has been particularly rocked by gun violence and mass shootings the past few years. In the very same county as Marjory Stoneman Douglas, last year on Jan. 6, shots rang out at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport; 5 were killed and an additional 1 person injured. Just months before the airport shooting, a shooting at an Orlando nightclub, Pulse, made national headlines and became the second deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history with 49 deaths and 58 others injured. Another shooting scare occurred in Broward County at the Coral Square Mall this past November, 2 were shot and one death occurred, while this was not the typical active shooter occurrence it caused panic and sparked fear among shoppers who frequent the mall, which often included students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which is just a short 15 minute drive from the shopping center.
Cruz used an AR-15, which he purchased legally, to carry out the horror. The automatic weapon has been in the headlines for years as legislation has continually been proposed to deny civilian purchases of the weapon. No effective legislation has been put forth to end the mass murder as we’ve seen the three deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, all occurring within the past 5 months. Some details of the victims’ identities are slowly being released this morning, one of the slain was Aaron Feis, an assistant football coach and security guard. He died by using his body to shield students from gunfire. The tragedy has citizens across the state of Florida and the globe calling for governmental action on gun control. The South Florida community is still reeling but the need for O negative blood is uniting the community as blood drives are being held to help care for the victims of the shooting. It will be a long road to recovery for Broward County but help from the local community and hopefully, action from the government will ensure a tragedy like this won’t happen again. Our thoughts are with those affected and offer condolences to the family and friends of the victims.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office is scheduled to hold a press conference regarding the shooting today. To watch the live stream, visit USA Today.