Parkland Florida school shooting: At least 17 dead & top 10 developments
Florida school shooting: Valentine's Day 2018 turned into a Day of Carnage for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, when a 19-year-old gunman opened fire with an assault-style rifle on Wednesday. The attack killed 17 people and injured more than a dozen. The gunman, identified as Nikolaus Cruz, had once been expelled for disciplinary reasons from the Florida school. Here are top 10 developments of Florida shooting 1. Nikolaus Cruz arrested The gunman was identified as Nikolaus Cruz, who previously attended the school and was expelled for unspecified disciplinary reasons.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said, "the gunman surrendered to police without a struggle." 2. Weapons used by Cruz He was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and had multiple magazines of ammunition. According to CNN, he wore a gas mask, was carrying smoke grenades and set off a fire alarm, prompting students to pour out of their classrooms into the hallways. As a high school freshman, Cruz was part of the US military-sponsored Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corp program at the school. Jillian Davis, 19, a recent graduate and former fellow JROTC member at Stoneman Douglas High, described Cruz as "kind of an outcast" who was known for unruly behaviour at school and was "crazy about guns." 3. 17 dead, over a dozen injured Twelve of the dead were killed inside the school, two others just outside, one more on the street and two other victims died of their injuries at a hospital. The victims comprised a mixture of students and adults. Authorities at two nearby hospitals told Reuters they were treating 13 survivors for bullet wounds and other injuries, five of whom were listed in critical condition 4. 18th shooting in a US school this year It was the 18th shooting in a U. S. school so far this year, according to gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety. That tally includes suicides and incidents when no one was injured, as well as the January shooting in which a 15-year-old gunman killed two fellow students at a Benton, Kentucky, high school. 5. How it happened Staff and students told local media that a fire alarm went off around the time the shooting started, sparking chaos as some 3,300 students at the school first headed into hallways before teachers herded them back into classrooms, to seek shelter in closets. 6. Anguished parents check on their children "It is just absolutely horrifying. I can't believe this is happening," Lissette Rozenblat, whose daughter goes to the school, told CNN. Her daughter called her to say she was safe but the student also told her mother she heard the cries of a person who was shot. Televised images showed dozens of students, their arms in the air, weaving their way between law enforcement officers with heavy weapons and helmets, and large numbers of emergency vehicles including police cars, ambulances and fire trucks. 7. Trump prays for Florida school shooting victims United States President Donald Trump on Thursday offered his condolences, following the shooting at a school in Parkland, Florida.
"My prayers and condolences to the families of the victims of the terrible Florida shooting. No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school," President Trump wrote on Twitter. Trump also assured the US citizens that a strict action will be taken against the shooter. First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump, too offered her condolences. "My heart is heavy over the school shooting in Florida. Keeping all affected in my thoughts and prayers," she wrote on Twitter. 8. More than 40 “active shooter� episodes in schools have been recorded in the United States since 2000, according to F. 9. Social media grieves for the dead. 10. Florida schools and Universities, government pray for Florida victims The Valentine's Day bloodshed in the Miami suburb of gated communities with palmand shrub-lined streets was the latest outbreak of gun violence that has become a regular occurrence at schools and college campuses across the United States over the past several years.