On February 14, 2018, a gunman opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 people and injuring 17 others. A suspect, later identified as 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, was arrested without incident about an hour later in nearby Coral Springs and subsequently charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. The killing spree is the deadliest high school shooting in United States history, surpassing the Columbine High School massacre that killed 15, including the perpetrators, in April 1999.
About Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in brief
On February 14, 2018, a gunman opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 people and injuring 17 others. A suspect, later identified as 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, was arrested without incident about an hour later in nearby Coral Springs and subsequently charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. The killing spree is the deadliest high school shooting in United States history, surpassing the Columbine High School massacre that killed 15, including the perpetrators, in Colorado in April 1999. The shooting came at a period of heightened public support for gun control that followed mass shootings in Las Vegas, Nevada and Sutherland Springs, Texas, in October and November 2017. After the shooting, the anger and frustration of Parkland student survivors intensified towards the inaction of the Republican-dominated legislature on the wider issue of mass shootings and gun violence. On March 9, Governor Rick Scott signed a bill that implemented new restrictions to Florida’s gun laws and also allowed for the arming of teachers who were properly trained and the hiring of school resource officers. After he stopped shooting, it’s claimed that the shooter dropped his rifle on the third floor of the building and left the scene by blending in with fleeing students. At about 3: 40 p. m., Cruz was stopped by police in the Wyndham Lakes neighborhood of Coral Springs, 2 miles from the school and arrested as suspected shooter. An interactive timeline of the events has been compiled by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, showing when Cruz was alleged to have entered the school property, and when he was released into police custody and booked into the Browards County Jail.
The timeline also includes the time it took for Cruz to enter the building, and how he was recognized by an eyewitnesses, and he was also recognized by the local Fire-Rescue department. The shooter entered Building 12, a three-story structure containing 30 classrooms typically occupied by about 900 students and 30 teachers, shortly before dismissal time. According to a police report, Cruz was carrying a rifle case and a backpack when hewas spotted and recognized by a staff member who radioed a colleague that he was walking purposefully toward Building 12. The fire alarm caused confusion because there had been a fire drill earlier in the day, the same staff member heard gunfire and activated a code red lockdown. On the first floor, the shooter fired in the hallway and into four classrooms, killing eleven people. He then went to the second floor, where he fired into two more classrooms but did not kill anyone. He also attempted but failed to shoot outside through the windows, which were hurricane-resistant. It is alleged that he then walked to a fast-food restaurant and lingered before leaving on foot at 3: 01 p.m. The shooting lasted six minutes, and it is claimed that Cruz was spotted by a school resource officer who hid in a closet. After Cruz was arrested, he was taken to a hospital emergency room with labored breathing.
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This page is based on the article Stoneman Douglas High School shooting published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 30, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
