Teen gunman kills 17, injures 17 at Parkland, Florida high school
On February 14 2018 an expelled student entered Parkland Floridas Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and opened fire killing 17 people and wounding 17 others in what became the deadliest shooting at a high school in United States history.Dressed in a maroon shirt adorned with the school logo Nikolas Cruz exited his Uber outside the campus at 219 p.m.He approached the school wearing a backpack filled with magazines and carrying a black duffel packed with his legally purchased AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.School staff had been warned after Cruzs expulsion for disciplinary reasons in 2017 that the troubled teen was a risk to student safety.So when a staff member saw him outside he radioed a Code Red to initiate a lockdown of the school.
It was too late.Cruz entered the high schools Freshman Building on campuswhich was mostly filled with freshman studentsat 221 p.m.and unpacked his rifle in a stairwell.
According to NBC Miami freshman Chris McKenna 15 spotted Cruz there and received a chilling warning from the gunman.You better get out of here.Things are going to start getting messy.
McKenna ran outside where he spotted Aaron Feis a coach and school security monitor who took him to the baseball field 500 feet away and turned back to check it out.Cruz exited the stairwell into a first-floor hallway firing a stream of bullets down the corridor shattering windows and shooting through doors.In just under two minutes he murdered 11 people and injured 13 others.He then headed up the stairs.
He was on the second floor for less than a minute firing but hitting no one before going to the third floor where he killed his last six victims and injured four more in the final 45 seconds of the attack.Terrified students ran for their lives.Others remained holed up hiding in classrooms closets and bathrooms desperate to reach their parents.Many began broadcasting the horror on social media through video and live posts.According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel Cruz left the hallways and went to the faculty lounge where he set up a bipodlike a tripod on which to rest the gunreloaded his weapon and began firing like a sniper at the fleeing students outside.
Only hurricane impact-resistant glass in the windows kept the death toll from growing.In all Cruzs attack lasted less than four minutes and left 17 dead.At 228 p.m.just seven minutes after entering the building he ditched the rifle in another stairwell and left the school attempting to blend in with the crowd of escaping students.
The gunman successfully left the campus running to a Walmart at 250 p.m stopping at a Subway restaurant to get a drink and eventually heading to McDonalds.He was apprehended shortly thereafter after being spotted by a Broward County police officer.He looked like a typical high school student and for a quick moment I thought Could this be the person who I need to stop said Officer Michael Leonard in an interview after arresting Cruz.The devastation felt by the Florida communityonce considered the safest city in the statewas immeasurable.
Previous school shootings throughout the country had prompted Stoneman Douglas (and other schools) to practice active shooter drills and the school had employed an armed officer on campus.But it hadnt been enough to stop the carnage.Chants for No More Guns broke out at candlelight vigils and over a thousand people showed up to funerals in the days after.
Student survivors took to social media to make their anger known giving interviews and becoming activists for gun safety legislation.One student David Hogg went from school newspaper reporter to activist when his plea to legislators in a CNN interview went viral.Please take action he begged lawmakers.
On March 24 less than six weeks after their lives were shattered by violence students helped organize the March for Our Lives a demonstration in support of gun violence prevention.Students across the country were encouraged to stage walkouts and a rally was held in Washington D.C.There anti-gun violence protesters from around the countrysome survivors of school shootings and others whose daily lives were affected by gun violencecelebrities and other activists spoke to a crowd of thousands demanding legislative change.Three weeks later Florida Governor Rick Scott a supporter of the NRA responded.
He signed a bill imposing a 21-year-old legal age requirement for gun purchases and a three-day waiting period on all gun transactions.The law also controversially permitted the arming of some school employees.The change didnt stop in Florida.
According to the New York Times state legislatures passed 69 gun control measures in 2018 mostly after the shooting.It was more than three times the amount of legislation passed in 2017.Nikolas Cruz was charged with 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.As of February 6 2019 Cruz was still awaiting a trial date.