High schools all over the country are becoming hunting grounds for firearm-carrying misfits. The victims, random most of the time, are innocent bystanders going about their lives with their own responsibilities. The most recent High School shooting was on February 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida.
Valentine's Day massacre
A 19-year-old by the name of Nikolas Jacob Cruz decided to make history, loading up his AR-15 Rifle with multiple clips while wearing his bulletproof vest, all bought legally a year ago from a gun store in Florida where at the age of 18, anyone can purchase a firearm (handgun or assault rifle).
From the Police report via 6ABC News:
- Cruz at 2:06 PM was picked up by Uber.
- Cruz then arrived at the high school around 2:19 PM.
- Cruz around 2:21 PM entered the east stairwell of the high school running into a student and eyewitness Chris Mckenna. Cruz told Mckenna "You better get out of here, things are going to get messy," while loading up his AR-15 and putting on his bulletproofing.
- Cruz at 2:22 PM begin entering classrooms opening fire then heading to the stairwell continuing on floors two &and three where 17 were killed and 14 were wounded in total.
- Cruz then dropped his rifle and backpack to blend in with the evacuating crowd of students and faculty and escaped.
- Later, Cruz was spotted at a local Walmart buying a drink from the Subway.
- Finally, at 3:01 PM Cruz sat down briefly in a nearby Mcdonald's for a few minutes before leaving and he was eventually caught by local law enforcement.
Evidence warning signs were missed
After an Investigation, there was plenty of evidence to prove Cruz been planning this for months possibly because of being expelled, Cruz has been mentally ill for years posting dead animals he killed and multiple pictures of stuff he had shot posted on his Instagram.
Cruz even posted a comment on YouTube that was flagged for stating "I'm going to be a professional school shooter." FBI reported they attempted to locate the individual who posted the comment but were unsuccessful. Cruz is being held without bail on 17 counts of premeditated murder in an isolated cell on suicide watch.
The list of individuals who died:
- Coach Aaron Feis, 37
- Alaina Petty, 14
- Alyssa Alhadeff, 14
- Cara Loughran, 14
- Carmen Schentrup, 16
- Christopher Hixon, 49
- Gina Montalto, 14
- Helena Ramsey, 17
- Jaime Guttenberg, 14
- Joaquin Oliver, 17
- Luke Hoyer, 15
- Martin Duque, 14
- Meadow Pollack, 18
- Nicholas Dworet, 17
- Peter Wang, 15
- Scott Beigel, 35
