Parkland high school shooting

Stoneman Douglas High School shooting
Part of school shootings in the United States
The Pine Island Road entrance to Stoneman Douglas High School in 2008
Stoneman Douglas High School Stoneman Douglas High School (Florida)
Location	Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School 5901 Pine Island Road Parkland, Florida, U.S.
Coordinates	26.3053°N 80.2683°W / 26.3053; -80.2683 (Shooting) (shooting) 26.2897°N 80.2871°W / 26.2897; -80.2871 (Arrest) (arrest)
Date	February 14, 2018 (2018-02-14) 2:21 p.m. – 2:27 p.m. (EST, UTC−5)
Attack type	School shooting, mass shooting
Weapons	AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle (Smith & Wesson M&P15)
Deaths	17
Injured	14
Charges	17 counts of capital murder

On the afternoon of February 14, 2018, a mass shooting occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. Seventeen people were killed and fourteen more were taken to hospitals, making it one of the world's deadliest school massacres. The suspected perpetrator, Nikolas Jacob Cruz, was arrested shortly afterward and confessed, according to the Broward County Sheriff's Office. He was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.

In September 2017, the FBI learned "nikolas cruz" had posted a YouTube comment, "Im going to be a professional school shooter", but the agency could not identify the individual who made the statement. In January 2018, it got another tip, that Cruz had made a death threat, but due to an error, its Miami field office was not notified. Police and prosecutors have not yet established a motive for the rampage and are looking into "a pattern of disciplinary issues and unnerving behavior".

Shooting

The shooting took place during the afternoon of February 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The suspected shooter, Nikolas Cruz, requested an Uber ride and was dropped off at the school at 2:19 p.m. EST. He was carrying a backpack and a long bag.

Cruz entered the "freshman building", a three-story structure containing 30 classrooms typically occupied by about 900 students and 30 teachers. He activated a fire alarm while he was armed with an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle and multiple magazines, and began shooting indiscriminately at students and teachers. He had purchased the rifle legally from a nearby Coral Springs gun store in February 2017. At approximately 2:21, near dismissal time, staff members heard gunfire and activated a "code red" lockdown.

The shooting lasted six minutes, after which Cruz abandoned his rifle on the 3rd floor of the building and left the scene by blending in with fleeing students. He walked to a Walmart, where he purchased a soda at its Subway restaurant. He then walked to a McDonald's and lingered before leaving on foot at 3:01. At about 3:40 p.m., he was stopped by a police officer in Coral Springs—two miles from the school—and taken into custody without incident. He was taken to a hospital emergency room with "labored breathing", released after 40 minutes, then booked into the Broward County Jail.

School surveillance cameras confirmed Cruz as the perpetrator.

Victims

Fourteen students and three staff members were killed and many others wounded or injured, including at least 14 who were taken to area hospitals. Three people remained in critical condition the next day and one the day after that. Of those killed, twelve died in the school, two just outside the school buildings, one on the street, and two at the hospital. The dead were:

• Alyssa Alhadeff, 14
• Scott Beigel, 35
• Martin Duque, 14
• Nicholas Dworet, 17
• Aaron Feis, 37
• Jaime Guttenberg, 14
• Chris Hixon, 49
• Luke Hoyer, 15
• Cara Loughran, 14
• Gina Montalto, 14
• Joaquin Oliver, 17
• Alaina Petty, 14
• Meadow Pollack, 18
• Helena Ramsay, 17
• Alex Schachter, 14
• Carmen Schentrup, 16
• Peter Wang, 15

Scott Beigel, a geography teacher at the school, was shot dead after he unlocked a classroom for students to hide; some students survived because the gunman did not enter the classroom. Aaron Feis was an assistant football coach and security guard at the school; he was shot and killed as he shielded two students. Chris Hixon, the school's athletic director, was killed as he ran toward the sound of the gunfire.

Fifteen-year-old Peter Wang was last seen in JROTC uniform holding open doors so others could get out more quickly. Wang was called a hero and many called to bury him with full military honors. Cadets Peter Wang, Alaina Petty, and Martin Duque were all posthumously honored by the U.S. Army with the ROTC Medal for Heroism at their services, and Wang was buried in his JROTC Blues uniform. On February 20, 2018, Wang was awarded a rare posthumous admission to the United States Military Academy.

Nikolas Cruz

Broward County Sheriff's Office mugshot of Cruz

The suspected shooter was identified as Nikolas Jacob Cruz, a 19-year-old former student at the school. Cruz was born on September 24, 1998, in Margate, Florida, and was adopted at age two. His adoptive father died during Cruz's childhood. His adoptive mother died at age 68 in November 2017. Cruz had been living with relatives and friends since her death.

Cruz was a member of the NRA funded Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) and had received multiple awards for outstanding academic performance. He was also a member of his school's varsity air rifle team. In 2014 he was transferred to a school for children with emotional or learning disabilities, and returned to Stoneman Douglas High School two years later. The Florida Department of Children and Families investigated Cruz in September 2016 for Snapchat posts in which he cut both his arms and said he planned to buy a gun. State investigators reported Cruz had depression, autism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. They assessed that he was not a risk. He had previously been receiving mental health treatment, but stopped going. An email from the school administration had circulated among teachers, warning that Cruz had made threats against other students. This led the school to ban him from wearing a backpack on campus. He was never expelled, but frequently transferred between schools.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel described Cruz's online profiles and accounts as "very, very disturbing". They contained numerous pictures and posts of him with a variety of weapons, including long knives, a shotgun, a pistol, and a BB gun. Police said Cruz holds "extremist" views and social media accounts believed to be linked to him contain anti-black and anti-Muslim slurs. Cruz's YouTube videos included violent threats, such as "I wanna die Fighting killing s**t ton of people", threats against police officers and Antifa, and an admiration of the University of Texas tower shooting. He left a comment on another user's YouTube video on September 24, 2017, stating "I'm going to be a professional school shooter", which prompted the user to report him to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). According to FBI agent Robert Lasky, the FBI was unable to identify the commenter after conducting database reviews and checks.

According to CNN, Cruz said that his hate for black people was "simply because they were black"; he referred to white women in interracial relationships as traitors, and he also expressed anti-immigration and antisemitism.

A former classmate said Cruz had anger management problems and often joked about guns and gun violence, including "shooting up establishments". A 2016 graduate's brother described him as "super stressed out all the time and talked about guns a lot and tried to hide his face". A current student said, "I think everyone had in their minds if anybody was going to do it, it was going to be him." A classmate assigned to work with him in sophomore year said, "He told me how he got kicked out of two private schools. He was held back twice. He had aspirations to join the military. He enjoyed hunting." Cruz also bragged about killing animals. A neighbor said Cruz's mother would call the police over to the house to try to "talk some sense" into him.

Legal proceedings

Cruz's arraignment (3:02)

At his arraignment before Judge Kim Theresa Mollica on February 15, Cruz was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and ordered held without bond. If convicted of capital murder by a jury, he could face the death penalty. According to an affidavit by the Broward County Sheriff's Office, he confessed to the shooting, stating that he brought additional loaded magazines hidden in a backpack.

The public defender's office said he will plead guilty if the death penalty is taken off the table. The chief public defender in Broward County said that it is not yet known if Cruz's attorneys will seek an insanity defense. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said she is certain prosecutors will seek the death penalty.

Cruz was placed on suicide watch in an isolation cell after the arraignment.

Aftermath

Pavement markings at a California vigil for the students of Stoneman Douglas High

The Broward County sheriff, Scott Israel, visiting one of the victims at a hospital four days after the attack

First responders established a triage tent outside the school. The school district provided grief counseling to students and their families. Additionally, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said costs of funerals and counseling would be covered by the state.

At least three counties of Florida and Virginia increased police presence at schools on February 15 in response to the shooting. The building where the shooting took place will be torn down.

Political reactions

President Trump's response to the shooting (6:23)

U.S. President Donald Trump offered his prayers and condolences to the victims' families, writing, "no child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school". In a televised address to the nation, he mentioned school safety and mental health issues. Florida Governor Rick Scott ordered flags at state buildings to be flown at half-staff in the state of Florida, and Trump later ordered flags be flown at half-staff for the entire country. Two days after the shooting, Trump and his wife Melania paid a one-hour visit to the victims' hospital, congratulating physicians and posing with staff for photos.

BBC News characterized Republican politicians' reactions as focusing on mental health issues while dodging debate on gun control with the reasons that it was either "too political or too soon". Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said that this was the time to "step back and count our blessings" instead of "taking sides and fighting each other politically". Florida Senator Marco Rubio said that "most" proposals on stricter gun laws "would not have prevented" this shooting nor "any of those [shootings] in recent history" and that lawmakers should "focus on the violence part" alongside guns.

Al Hoffman Jr., a prominent Florida GOP political donor and Rubio supporter, publicized an email sent to Florida GOP politicians after the shooting, including governor Rick Scott and former governor Jeb Bush, pledging to no longer fund legislative groups or candidates who were not actively working to ban sales of military-style assault weapons to civilians. "For how many years now have we been doing this – having these experiences of terrorism, mass killings – and how many years has it been that nothing's been done?" Hoffman said. "It's the end of the road for me."

The Alliance for Securing Democracy alleged Russian bot accounts used Twitter to inflame tensions by posting loaded comments that support or oppose gun control to divide Americans. It said other Russia-linked accounts have labelled the shooting as a false flag operation which the U.S. government will exploit to seize guns from citizens.

Gun control debate

Main article: 2018 United States gun violence protests

Shortly after the attack, public comment returned to gun politics. Several student survivors criticized the response, asking politicians to get things done to prevent more children from dying in shootings rather than just offer condolences. Some of these students have demanded tighter gun control as a course of action. Student and survivor Emma González was noted for her impassioned speech rebuking "thoughts and prayers" from the government and the President. She has since emerged as one of the teenage leaders of a protest movement against gun violence in the United States. One of the teachers said there were so many casualties even after the people at the school had done all they were supposed to do. She felt the government had not done enough to keep the students at her school safe. Broward County Schools Superintendent Rob Runcie said, "now is the time to have a real conversation about gun control legislation".

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel called on lawmakers to amend the Florida Mental Health Act to allow police to detain and hospitalize people who make disturbing posts on social media, not just clear threats. "I'm talking about being around bombs, possibly talking about 'I want to be a serial killer,' talking about taking people's lives," he said. "Just taking a picture with a gun or a knife or a weapon – that in and of itself is clearly not even remotely something that we're concerned about."

Some of the Stoneman Douglas student survivors organized a group called Never Again MSD in the aftermath of the shooting, which began on social media using the hashtag #NeverAgain. The group has demanded legislative action to prevent similar shootings in the future and has vocally condemned U.S. lawmakers who have received political contributions from the National Rifle Association (NRA). While hiding during the shooting, student David Hogg, one of the group's co-founders, used his cell phone to record video of his classmates, which Vox called "a gun control plea in sickening real time". On February 17, 2018, in Fort Lauderdale, Never Again MSD held a rally which was attended by hundreds of supporters.

Since the shooting, several more rallies have been planned to take place with the focus on legislative action. The Women's March Network is planning a 17-minute school walkout on March 14, 2018. "March for Our Lives" is planned for March 24, 2018, and intends to be a nationwide student demonstration. The event will include a march in Washington, D.C. On April 20, 2018, the anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre, all-day walkouts are planned for teacher groups by Diane Ravitch and David Berliner, and for student groups by Lane Murdock of Ridgefield High School.

FBI handling of information

On January 5, 2018, the FBI's Public Access Line (PAL) received a tip from a person who was close to Cruz. On February 16 (two days after the shooting), the agency released a statement that detailed this information. According to the statement, "The caller provided information about Cruz's gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting." After conducting an investigation, the FBI stated that the PAL did not follow protocol when the information was not forwarded to the Miami Field Office where investigative steps would have been taken.

See also

• Assault weapons legislation in the United States
• Federal Assault Weapons Ban
• Gun law in the United States
• Gun laws in Florida
• Gun politics in the United States
• Gun violence in the United States
• List of attacks related to secondary schools
• List of disasters in the United States by death toll
• List of rampage killers (school massacres)

Further reading

• "UPDATE –Regarding Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School February 14, 2018, 9 p.m." – Broward County Public Schools
• "UPDATE: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School February 15, 2018, 6 p.m." – Broward County Public Schools
• "From Superintendent Robert W. Runcie–Today's Tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School" – Broward County Public Schools

External links

• "Seeking Information on School Shooting in Parkland, Florida" – Federal Bureau of Investigation