An orphaned 19-year-old with a
troubled past and his own AR-15 rifle was charged with 17 counts of
premeditated murder Thursday morning after being questioned for hours by
state and federal authorities following the deadliest school shooting
in the U.S. in five years.
Fourteen wounded survivors were
hospitalized as bodies were recovered from inside and around Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School.
Nikolas Cruz, still wearing a
hospital gown after being treated for labored breathing, and weighing in
at 5-foot-7 and 131 pounds, was ordered held without bond and booked
into jail.
His former classmates thought they were having another
drill Wednesday afternoon when a fire alarm sounded, requiring them to
file out of their classrooms.
That's when police say Cruz,
equipped with a gas mask, smoke grenades and multiple magazines of
ammunition, opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon, killing 17 people
and sending hundreds of students fleeing into the streets.
It was
the nation's deadliest school shooting since a gunman attacked an
elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, more than five years ago. The
overall death toll differs by how such shootings are defined, but
Everytown For Gun Safety has tallied 290 school shootings in America
since 2013, and this attack makes 18 so far this year.
President Donald Trump's reaction focused on Cruz's mental health.
"So
many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even
expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and
classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances
to authorities, again and again!" Trump tweeted Thursday.
Authorities
offered no immediate details about a possible motive, except to say
that Cruz had been kicked out of the high school, which has about 3,000
students. Students who knew him described a volatile teenager whose
strange behavior had caused others to end friendships with him.
Cruz's
mother Lynda Cruz died of pneumonia on Nov. 1 neighbors, friends and
family members said, according to the Sun Sentinel . Cruz and her
husband, who died of a heart attack several years ago, adopted Nikolas
and his biological brother, Zachary, after the couple moved from Long
Island in New York to Broward County.
The boys were left in the
care of a family friend after their mother died, said family member
Barbara Kumbatovich, of Long Island.
Unhappy there, Nikolas Cruz
asked to move in with a friend's family in northwest Broward. That
family agreed and Cruz moved in around Thanksgiving. According to the
family's lawyer, who did not identify them, they knew that Cruz owned
the AR-15 but made him keep it locked up in a cabinet. He did have the
key, however.
Attorney Jim Lewis said the family is devastated and didn't see this coming. They are cooperating with authorities, he said.
Victoria
Olvera, a 17-year-old junior, said Cruz was expelled last school year
because he got into a fight with his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend. She
said he had been abusive to the girl.
"I think everyone had in their minds if anybody was going to do it, it was going to be him," she said.
Cruz
was taken into custody without a fight about an hour after the shooting
in a residential neighborhood about a mile away. He had multiple
magazines of ammunition, authorities said.
"It's catastrophic. There really are no words," said Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.
The sheriff said 12 bodies were found inside the building, two others outside and another a short distance away from the school.
Sen.
Bill Nelson told CNN that Cruz had pulled the fire alarm "so the kids
would come pouring out of the classrooms into the hall."
"And there the carnage began," said Nelson, who said he was briefed by the FBI.
Frantic
parents rushed to the school to find SWAT team members and ambulances
surrounding the huge campus and emergency workers treating the wounded
on sidewalks. Students who had taken shelter inside classrooms began
leaving in a single-file line with their hands over their heads as
officers urged them to evacuate quickly.
Hearing loud bangs as the shooter fired, many of the students hid under desks or in closets, and barricaded doors.
"We
were in the corner, away from the windows," said freshman Max Charles,
who said he heard five gunshots. "The teacher locked the door and turned
off the light. I thought maybe I could die or something."
Charles said he passed four dead students and one dead teacher on his way out, and was relieved to finally find his mother.
"I was happy that I was alive," Max said. "She was crying when she saw me."
Noah
Parness, a 17-year-old junior, said he was among students calmly
walking to their fire-drill areas outside when he suddenly heard popping
sounds.
"We saw a bunch of teachers running down the stairway,
and then everybody shifted and broke into a sprint," Parness said. "I
hopped a fence."
The scene was reminiscent of the Newtown attack,
which shocked even a country numbed by the regularity of school
shootings. The Dec. 14, 2012, assault at Sandy Hook Elementary School
killed 26 people: 20 first-graders and six staff members. The
20-year-old gunman, who also fatally shot his mother in her bed, then
killed himself.
Not long after Wednesday's attack in Florida,
Michael Nembhard was sitting in his garage on a cul-de-sac when he saw a
young man in a burgundy shirt walking down the street. In an instant, a
police cruiser pulled up, and officers jumped out with guns drawn.
"All I heard was 'Get on the ground! Get on the ground!'" Nembhard said. He said Cruz did as he was told.
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