By David Fleshler and Yiran Zhu
Updated on March 9, 2018
On Feb. 14, Nikolas Cruz entered the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and conducted one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. Fourteen students and three staff members were killed, as Cruz fired off shots from his AR-15 rifle, and teachers and students barricaded themselves in classrooms. Here’s how that tragic day unfolded.
Cruz arrives
2:06 p.m. Uber picks up Cruz.
2:19 p.m. Uber drops Cruz off at Stoneman Douglas High School, just before the school day ends, when gates are open and it’s easy to enter the campus.
Cruz starts shooting
2:21 p.m. Cruz enters the east stairwell of Building 12 with an AR-15 rifle in a black case.
Between 2:21 p.m. to 2:28 p.m.
Freshman Chris McKenna sees Cruz on a second-floor hallway, loading his rifle. “You’d better get out of here,” Cruz said, according to McKenna. “Things are gonna start getting messy.”
McKenna fled.
Once the shooting began, the school went into a procedure known as Code Red, where the fire doors in the hallways are locked and students and staff are required to stay in their classrooms. But fire alarms went off, overriding the Code Red.
McKenna told assistant football coach Aaron Feis about Cruz’s gun.
“Let me go check it out,” Feis said.
As the Cruz started shooting, Feis ran down a hallway and pushed students to safety, using his body to shield a freshman girl. He was shot and killed.
In Algebra II in Room 1232, hearing the gunshots and screams, math teacher Shanthi Viswanathan placed paper over the classroom window so no one could see in and told students to get on the floor in the corner.
Her actions probably saved her students, said Dawn Jarboe, whose son Brian was in the class.
In her first-floor history class, Social Studies teacher Ivy Schamis was finishing a lesson on the Holocaust.
“We heard ‘Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!’ right outside of the door,” she said.Bullets pierced the door’s glass and hit six students, killing Helena Ramsay and Nick Dworet, both 17.
Cruz fires into Room 1213 , where a psychology class was being held, killing student Carmen Schentrup and wounding several others.
In classroom 1216, everyone dropped to the floor at the sound of shots.
“I called 911 and texted to my husband that my students have been shot and to call 911,” English teacher Dara Hass said. “I hugged the students who did their best to hide under and behind my desk. I communicated nonverbally to the students hiding across the room. These students witnessed three of their classmates and friends pass. We sat in silence while the 911 operator told us she was with us and help was on the way. I held back tears and panic as I hugged my students.”
Hearing the shots, geography teacher Scott Beigel unlocked a door to a classroom to let students hide inside. Beigel was shot and killed.
Peter Wang, 15, held a door open to let other students out of the building before him when he was shot and killed.
A while after the shooting, 2:38 p.m. Parent Howard S. Krooks: receives a shocking text from his son, Noah, a freshman.
“Dad, I think there is a shooter at the school I’m in.” “I think it’s real.” “How do you know it’s real?”
“I hear gunshots, right outside my classroom.”
Then, my son texted me the following:“I think Alex got shot!”
Aftermath
2:28:35 p.m. Cruz exits Building 12 and runs west towards the tennis courts and then heads south.
2:29:51 p.m. Cruz crosses field and runs west with others who are fleeing the area.
2:50 p.m. Cruz arrives at Walmart, enters the store and buys a drink at the interior Subway, then leaves on foot.
2:51 p.m. First notice of shootings to Broward Health North.
2:55 p.m. First victim arrives at ER at Broward Health North.
3:01 p.m. Cruz goes to nearby McDonalds, sits down for a short time and then leaves on foot.
3:33 p.m. First patient arrives at Broward Health Medical Center.
Nikolas Cruz is escorted into Broward's Main Jail. (Courtesy/Reliable News Media)
3:36 p.m. Lockdown at school lifted.
3:41 p.m. Cruz is detained near 4700 Wyndham Lakes Drive., Coral Springs by Coconut Creek Officer Michael Leonard. After being identified by witnesses, Cruz is placed under arrest.