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Stoneman Douglas High School shooting
Part of school shootings in the United States
Pine Island Road entrance to Stoneman Douglas High School, in 2008
Stoneman Douglas High SchoolStoneman Douglas High School (Florida)
Location	Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School 5901 Pine Island Road Parkland, Florida, U.S.
Coordinates	26°18′19″N 80°16′06″W / 26.3053°N 80.2683°W / 26.3053; -80.2683
Date	February 14, 2018; 6 years ago (2018-02-14) 2:21 p.m. (EST)
Attack type	School shooting, mass shooting
Weapons	AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle
Deaths	17
Injured	15
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, United States, in the Miami metropolitan area. Seventeen people were killed and fifteen more were taken to hospitals; the shooting was one of the world's deadliest school massacres. The alleged perpetrator, Nikolas Cruz, was arrested shortly after the shooting and charged with seventeen counts of premeditated murder. He confessed to the shooting, according to the Broward County Sheriff's Office.

Cruz's social media posts showed him joking about shooting people with his AR-15 style rifle, and he promised retribution against police officers and Antifa. A month prior to the shooting, the FBI was tipped off about the post and threats he had made, but due to a mishandling of the information, no follow-up actions were taken. Although police and prosecutors have not yet offered a motive for the crime, factors being looked into include "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. At 2:19 p.m. EST, the suspected shooter, Nikolas Cruz, was dropped off at the school by an Uber driver. He was carrying a black backpack and a long black bag. At approximately 2:21 p.m., near dismissal time, staff and students heard gunfire and enacted a "code red" lockdown.

Cruz activated a fire alarm while wearing a gas mask and carrying smoke grenades, police say. He was armed with a .223 caliber AR-15 style rifle and multiple magazines and began shooting indiscriminately at students and staff. The rifle had been purchased legally from Sunrise Tactical Supply.

Cruz then allegedly left the scene by blending in with fleeing students. He walked to a nearby Walmart, where he purchased a soda at its Subway restaurant. He then walked to a McDonald's and lingered before leaving on foot. He was arrested without incident in nearby Coral Springs about 3:40 p.m. He was identified as the perpetrator through school security camera recordings.

Victims

Fourteen students and three staff members were killed and many others injured, including at least 15 (including the suspect) who were taken to area hospitals. Three people remained in critical condition the next day. 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 identified as:

Suspect

The suspected shooter was identified as Nikolas Jacob Cruz (born September 24, 1998, in Margate, Florida), who was a 19-year-old former student at the school. His former math teacher said that an email from the school administration had circulated among teachers. The email warned that Cruz had made threats against other students, which led the school to ban him from wearing a backpack on campus. He was later expelled for apparently fighting with the new boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend.

Cruz was a member of the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC), which awarded him multiple times for outstanding academic performance. A former classmate said Cruz had anger management problems and often joked about guns and gun violence, including "shooting up establishments". Another 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." Another classmate described him as a loner with few friends, saying, "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.

Sheriff Scott Israel of Broward County 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. His YouTube videos included violent threats, such as "I wanna die Fighting killing shit ton of people." 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.

The white nationalist militia group Republic of Florida initially said Cruz was a member of the organization, but later retracted the claim. Police are investigating this claim but they have not been able to verify it. Police said he holds "extremist" views and social media accounts believed to be linked to him contain racist and religious slurs.

Cruz was adopted at birth. His adoptive father Roger died of a heart attack during Cruz's childhood. His adoptive mother Lynda died at age 68 in November 2017, from influenza and pneumonia. Cruz had been living with relatives and friends since her death. He had previously been receiving mental health services, but he stopped going and did not return.

Legal proceedings

After he was taken into police custody, Cruz was charged with seventeen counts of premeditated murder. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty. According to an affidavit by the Broward County Sheriff's Office, Cruz confessed to the shooting, bringing additional loaded magazines hidden in a backpack and purchasing the rifle in February 2017. At arraignment on February 15, he was ordered held without bond.

Aftermath

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 Florida school shooting took place will be torn down.

President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Rick Scott were briefed on the shooting.

Political reactions

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. Scott ordered flags at state buildings to be flown at half-staff. Trump later ordered flags be flown at half-staff for the entire United States. Shortly after the attack, public comment quickly shifted focus to gun politics. Some of the student survivors criticized the response, asking politicians to get things done to protect more children from dying in shootings rather than just offer condolences. 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".

Professor and educational psychologist David Berliner called for a national teachers' walkout on May 1st if teachers and parents did not receive "assurance that the legislation for sanity in gun ownership will be acted on soon" by that date. Florida Senator Marco Rubio said though "most" proposals on stricter gun laws "would not have prevented" this shooting nor "any of those in recent history" and that lawmakers should "focus on the violence part" alongside guns. In a different approach, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel called on lawmakers to allow police and doctors to detain and hospitalize people who have made threatening posts on social media. Russian bot accounts also allegedly used Twitter to inflame tensions by posting loaded comments that support or oppose gun control in order to divide Americans.

Governor Scott called on FBI director Christopher A. Wray to resign after the agency's mishandling of information which might have helped prevent the shooting. Wray earlier said, "We are still investigating the facts. I am committed to getting to the bottom of what happened in this particular matter, as well as reviewing our processes for responding to information that we receive from the public. It’s up to all Americans to be vigilant, and when members of the public contact us with concerns, we must act properly and quickly."

Investigation

On February 16, the FBI released a statement detailing information the organization's Public Access Line had received a month prior, on January 5, from a person close to Cruz. 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 admitted to mishandling the information. They learned it was not forwarded to the Miami Field Office where investigative steps would have been taken, as per protocol.

See also

• Assault weapons legislation in the United States
• List of attacks related to secondary schools
• List of rampage killers (school massacres)
• Federal Assault Weapons Ban

References

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External links

• Stoneman Douglas shooting timeline of events. Broward County Sheriff's Office
• "From Superintendent Robert W. Runcie–Today’s Tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School." - Broward County Public Schools
• "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

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