Florida school shooting leaves 17 dead
A 19-year-old former student has been taken into custody
At least 17 people were killed when a gunman opened fire inside a high school in Florida yesterday afternoon.
Police were called to Marjory Stoneman Douglas school in Parkland shortly before 3pm yesterday and arrested the alleged gunman about an hour later in the nearby town of Coral Springs.
Police have confirmed that 12 of the victims died inside the school. Three were found outside and two died later in hospital. Three people remain in critical condition.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Video footage from inside the school showed students cowering on the floor of a classroom, screaming as loud gunfire came from the corridor outside.
Broward County sheriff Scott Israel said the suspect, identified as 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, is a former student of the school who had been expelled for disciplinary reasons. He was armed with a single AR-15 style assault rifle and was carrying “countless magazines, multiple magazines,” Israel said.
The gunman set off a fire alarm in a corridor of the school building “to draw people out of classrooms and increase the number of casualties”, CNN reports.
One student told NBC News that Cruz was “a little bit off” and “troubled”, and sometimes joked that “he’d be the one to shoot up the school”.
Police say they have begun to look into websites and social media accounts that he had been using, and said the results are “very, very disturbing.”
The tragedy is the eighth deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, and “one of the worst-ever school massacres”, says The Guardian.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why Man United finally lost patience with ten Hag
Talking Point After another loss United sacked ten Hag in hopes of success in the Champion's League
By The Week UK Published
-
Who are the markets backing in the US election?
Talking Point Speculators are piling in on the Trump trade. A Harris victory would come as a surprise
By The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: November 3, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Human skull in charity shop
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Mexico volcano ‘a wormhole’ for aliens
feature And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
New technology could reveal private thoughts
feature And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
Florida principal forced to resign over Michelangelo's David display
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Stolen alligator returned 20 years later
feature And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
Ron DeSantis’ ‘appalling stunt’: flying migrants to Martha’s Vineyard
feature Florida’s Republican governor flew two planeloads of illegal migrants to the Massachusetts island
By The Week Staff Published
-
A sunshine state of mind: the mass exodus to Florida
feature Could Florida be the new New York?
By The Week Staff Published
-
Home Office worker accused of spiking mistress’s drink with abortion drug
Speed Read Darren Burke had failed to convince his girlfriend to terminate pregnancy
By The Week Staff Published