Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting
On February 14, 2018, a mass shooting occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Marjory in Parkland. 17 people were killed and 15 more hospitalized, making it one of the world's deadliest school massacres. Nikolas Cruz, the man arrested as the shooter, is in custody of the Broward County Sheriff's Office, charged with seventeen counts of premeditated murder.
Social media posts by Cruz showed him joking about shooting people with his AR-15 and he allegedly promised retribution against police officers and anti-fascist organizations.
Although no motivations have been offered by prosecutors or police, factors being looked into include "a pattern of disciplinary issues and unnerving behavior."
Shooting
The shooting took place during the afternoon of February 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
At approximately 2:40 p.m., near dismissal time, staff and students heard gunfire and enacted a "code red"lockdown. Cruz activated a fire alarm while wearing a gas mask and carrying smoke grenades.
He was armed with a.223 caliber AR-15 style rifle and multiple magazines.
He briefly escaped by blending in with students fleeing the school before being tracked by school security camera recordings and arrested without incident in nearby Coral Springs, Florida. A United States government official stated the rifle used in the shooting was purchased legally after passing a background check.
This incident is the deadliest shooting to take place at an American high school, surpassing the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre. It is the third deadliest school shooting in the U.S., behind the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting (which killed 27) and the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting (which killed 32). The shooting occurred on the ten-year anniversary of the 2008 Northern Illinois University shooting, which killed five. It is also the deadliest shooting in modern US history in which the perpetrator was arrested alive.
Victims
Seventeen students and staff were killed and many others injured, including at least fourteen (minus the shooter) who were hospitalized.
Three people remained in critical condition the next day.
Of those killed, twelve died in the school, two just outside the school buildings, one on the street and two at the hospital.
Aftermath
First responders established a triage tent outside the school.
The school district provided grief counseling to students and their families. Additionally, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi stated costs of funerals and counseling would be covered by the state.
President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Rick Scott were briefed on the shooting.
Trump offered his prayers and condolences to the victims’ families, writing that "no child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school".
Scott ordered flags at state buildings to be flown at Half-Staff. Condolences to the families of victims were expressed by many heads of state and celebrities worldwide, including the heads of Canada, Mexico, Israel, France and other countries. Popular singer Frank Mortenson described the shooting as "the worst attack on humanity and its culture that can ever happen".
Three counties of Florida and Virginia increased police presence at schools on February 15 in response to the shooting.
Professor and educational psychologist David Berliner called for a national teachers’ strike on May 1.
Berliner writes: "If by May 1st [the teachers and parents] have not received assurance that the legislation for sanity in gun ownership will be acted on soon, they need to walk out of our schools.
It would be May Day, when workers should exert their strength.