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NIKOLAS CRUZ, THE shooter who opened fire on a Florida school yesterday killing 17 people, was a teenage gun lover previously expelled from the school for disciplinary reasons.
The gunman, 19, showed up at the end of the school day at his former school – Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland – with a semi-automatic AR-15 assault rifle and a large amount of ammunition.
Local police later arrested him in nearby Coral Springs.
Born in September 1998, Nikolas Cruz had posted “very disturbing” messages on social media, according to Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, who did not specify their exact content.
Authorities have not released a photograph of the shooter, and an Instagram account reportedly belonging to him has been suspended.
Cruz was known at school as having problems, according to several witnesses interviewed by local media.
“There were problems with him last year threatening students, and I guess he was asked to leave campus,” Jim Gard, a math teacher who had taught Cruz for a semester in 2016, told the Miami Herald.
Gard told CNN that although he had not had problems with Cruz in class, female students reported Cruz having “problems with other girls”.
Meanwhile a student, who wasn’t named, told local broadcaster WSVN-7 that Cruz was “a troubled kid” who had firearms at home and had talked about using them.
“He shot guns because he felt it gave him, I guess, an exhilarating feeling,” the student said.
According to another pupil, Nicholas Coke, Cruz was a “loner” who left the school and moved to northern Florida following the death of his mother. He had also undertaken a junior military training program, according to Pentagon sources who did not offer details.
The shooter had already had “a lot of problems,” Coke said, recalling an incident during middle school when Cruz kicked out a window.
Meanwhile another student, speaking to local channel WJXT, said “everyone predicted” Cruz would carry out such an atrocity.
“Honestly, a lot of people were saying it was gonna be him,” the pupil said.
He added Cruz knew the layout of the school and had some knowledge of security procedures through participating in fire drills.
“He knows the school layout, he knows where everyone would be at as of right now,” the student said.
He’s been with us in fire drills, he’s prepared for this stuff.
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“Everyone Predicted” he would carry out something like this. Therein lies the problem, these shootings have become almost acceptable like it’s part of everyday day life in America. Sad twisted logic.
A teenage gun lover? Only in America. He was a clearly disturbed young man with previous mental health issues and plenty of warning signs and he still could legally get his hands on an army grade weapon.
.”..opened fire on a Florida school tomorrow” ?? Surely it should be last night/yesterday…?
How is he a suspected gunman? He was the gunman!!!
@Me_a_monkey: I think there has to be a trial and conviction before he’s classed as the gunman
@Pat Bateman: That’s why they use the phrase ‘shooter’ instead of ‘lunatic mass murderer’.
Why post his name? You’re giving him what he wanted and are complicit in future shootings.
@Toomasu Sumitsu: yeah, you’re right, the naming and shaming is what makes these things happen. Not the lunatic with a gun. Heaven forbid he should be made accountable
I really is not that firearms are a problem. The firearm didn’t make a decision to go to the school and start shooting. Obviously the schools haven’t succeeded on protecting the children by whatever security systems they are using. This man was able to have access to enough students and teachers to kill 17 people. Most of these atrocities are carried out by disenchanted former students so why can this type of person be monitored by security after being expelled? Surely no one should have access to schools without having to go through serious security scrutiny? No matter what is done about school security, are students not vulnerable leaving and entering schools anyway?
Suspect should not be publicly named or back story used as any sort of justification – it only fuels the fire and encourages other loons
When these things happen I always wonder was there an element of bullying involved?
@Termaz Fx: Maybe – but even if there was that element to it, the free access to this type of weaponry “The Colt AR-15 is a lightweight, 5.56×45mm, magazine-fed, gas-operated semi-automatic rifle.” gives a deadly dimension to “bullying” or “hatred” or “revenge” or “mental health issues”. The profiles of these serial killers seem to be broadly the same.
@Termaz Fx: Having worked with emotionally disturbed children and teens in the US, I’d say that first comes the child’s behavior which is “different” and then comes the bullying. These disturbed children often come from homes with a history of marital or family conflict, addictions, crime, underachievement in life and academic problems. I remember one family in particular, if you had that surname you were likely served in special education for learning or emotional problems.
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