Posted on 02/14/2018 2:05:20 PM PST by Red Badger
An American nightmare is unfolding Wednesday afternoon at a North Broward high school where a former student came onto campus and opened fire, killing and injuring multiple people.
Details remain cloudy amid a flurry of police activity at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland off the Sawgrass Expressway. Students, who heard a fire alarm go off just before dismissal, followed by guns shots, fled off campus and hid under desks as police sped to the scene. Parents, blocked from getting onto campus, stood by helpless.
Robert Runcie, superintendent of Broward Schools, is reporting “numerous fatalities” in the terrifying attack, the latest in America’s troubled history with guns. Many victims have been transported to Broward Health North, and four others have been taken to Broward Medical Center.
“It’s just a horrible day for us,” Runcie told WSVN Channel 7. ““We received no warning... We didn’t have any warnings or any threats.”
According to law enforcement sources, the shooter, former student Nicolas de Jesus Cruz, is in custody. Helicopter footage shortly before 4 showed police frisking a handcuffed young man outside a squad car. Dressed in a maroon shirt and dark trousers, he was placed in the squad car as TV choppers filmed the scene. He gave no visible sign of being injured, but authorities have said Cruz was transported to Broward Health North.
A teacher at the school told the Miami Herald that Cruz, 19, had been identified as a potential threat to fellow students in the past.
“We were told last year that he wasn’t allowed on campus with a backpack on him,” said math teacher Jim Gard, who said the former student suspected in the shootings had been in his class last year. “There were problems with him last year threatening students, and I guess he was asked to leave campus.”
Gard says he believes the school administration had sent out an email warning teachers that the student had made threats against other in the past and that he should not be allowed on the campus with a backpack. Another student interviewed on the scene by Channel 7 said the student had guns at home.
A Broward schools spokesperson could not confirm any information about the shooter, and said Runcie was currently meeting with the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
“Six kids ran back into my room, and I locked the door, turned out the lights and had the kids go to the back of the room,” Gard said. “Within a minute a code red was announced,” Gard said, referring to the school code for a lock down.
“I told the kids to hang in there, it may still be a drill.”
The students remained calm. One high school senior elsewhere at the school told the Miami Herald that there were “SWAT teams everywhere with big guns, cops everywhere, helicopters.” She said parents trying to reach their children have been unable to make it to the school because the streets are closed off.
But by 2:40, Gard says, they knew it wasn’t a drill. Police had flooded the school, and began clearing buildings one at a time.
Police have remained tight with information. Law enforcement and the district's Special Investigative Unit are on site, as is the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Federal authorities said they don't believe the high school shootings are related to terrorism.
The FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force, consisting of local, state and federal agents, sent a squad to the school to assist the Broward Sheriff's Office and other law enforcement.
The shooting drew the Broward Sheriff’s Office and federal authorities to the school Wednesday afternoon. The White House began changing around plans after learning of the incident.
“My prayers and condolences to the families of the victims of the terrible Florida shooting,” President Donald Trump tweeted. “No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school.”
Initially, the Coral Springs Police Department urged teachers and students to remain barricaded inside until police reach them. Shortly after 3 p.m., helicopter footage from Channel 7 showed a stream of students fleeing the east side of the school. The evacuation started under the direction of police officers, and the students were guided to nearby parking lots by officers as well.
The guided evacuation continued from other doors, with some students leaving with hands above their heads. Pick up for students once released from Douglas High School has been announced as the North Heron Bay Marriott, South at Betty Stradling Park.
carliphoto1 Parents are standing about a mile from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High as they try to calm their children by phone. CARLI TEPROFF cteproff@miamiherald.com
Parents stood about a mile away as police blocked him from getting closer to their children. Many spoke on their cell phones trying to calm their children down.
Denise Perez paced she spoke to her daughter Marsiel Baluja. Her daughter told her that she was sitting between Publix and Walmart with a bunch of other students. They were surrounded by armed marshals.
“Just stay calm, baby,” she said.
Perez just wanted to get closer to her daughter.
“This is really hard,” she said as she cried.
Victoria Olvera, 17, a junior, able to walk out after getting clearance by police officers. She said she was in history when she heard shots.
“Everyone started running,” she said.
This breaking news bulletin will be updated as more information becomes available.
The kid is 19 and still in high school?
Don’t let satan in. Today is the first day of Lent and he is already stirring up trouble.
Stand strong on your faith!
Or maybe painting a red tip on a real gun to make someone THINK it’s a toy. A second of confusion on an armed defenders part is very useful for a bad guy.
Never assume. Believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see.
I’d bet on it. From reports from a fellow student, the were in alternative school. In other words, low to no achievement, druggies, problem kids.
This seems to fit the name, age and location:
Cruz, Nicolas was born 26 May 1998, is male, registered as Florida Democratic Party, residing at 803 W Oakland Park Blvd, Apt A 12, Oakland Park, Florida 33311. Florida voter ID number 124308057. His telephone number is 1-754-368-1309. This is the most recent information, from the Florida voter list as of 31 December 2017.
Previous information:
30 November 2016 voter list: Nicolas De Jesus Cruz, 803 W Oakland Park Blvd, APT A 12, Oakland Park, FL 33311 Florida Democratic Party.
31 October 2016 voter list: Nicolas De Jesus Cruz, 803 W Oakland Park BLVD, APT 2 A, Oakland Park, FL 33311 Florida Democratic Party. 3348841
source: https://flvoters.com/pages/c112397.html
Uh, 19? Isn’t there already a law that you have to be 21 to purchase a handgun?
obvious right wing tea party type.
lots of bad guys paint them that way to fool people
It should be dead. Dead bodies victims everywhere and the armed perp. What questions about guilt? Instant execution. And if its illegal DEPORTATION of the entire family.No mercy for psychos.
America needs better Cruz Control....
A school is a perfect killing field. Many unarmed targets locked into their rooms without any means of defense or escape.
This has to stop. Let’s stop funding illegals in our public schools, and use that money instead to have a significant amount of uniformed and undercover (trained members of the faculty would be perfect) armed security at every school. Make
It so you can’t get in with a weapon and if you do somehow, you won’t get far. Because you don’t know which of the faculty are the armed response.
I would not put my full faith in witness accounts. Why? For various reasons but especially this one. In moments of stress our eyes see what our brain expects to see. So were there several bodies, one in a pile of blood or were there one or two injured students? Both scenarios are horrific but as a kind of self preservation we process what we see to have the worst explanation. The better to get the heck away from there. So who knows what they did see. But a smile suggests either that she was nervous or that she is caught up in the sheer relief of being o.k.
No doubt too in several hours the fact he was a known threat will be lost to push the approved narrative of gun evil.
“That’s it.......we need to outlaw pump shotguns!”
/ Loony Lefties
I didn’t get it, either.
Let’s ban 20 year olds from attending high school.
“Cruz appears to be an AntiFA whack job with his face coverings. It’s the typical model for antiFA terrorists.”
“Pacific Pundit” needs to be real careful with that. Those pictures show him wearing an “U.S. Army” hat and a bandanna across his mouth.
When I was in high school the day you hit 19 you were gone. Had to go to continuation school from there.
How many school officials on campus were armed with guns ready to use on this armed wacko?
” . . . Cruz, 19, had been identified as a potential threat to fellow students in the past.”
BIG uh-oh. This is scary. I hate that he had such easy access to the school and its students.
In his profile picture, he was wearing a MAGA hat.
Just reported 17 dead with people still in surgery.
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