Survivors of America’s 18th public shooting this year alone described the attacker as “creepy and weird”.

Yesterday, at 2:25PM, shortly before “dismissal time”, Nikolas Cruz, 19, opened fire in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

A former student of the school, Cruz was expelled for unspecified disciplinary reasons last year, explains CNN.

It is reported that he used a .223 caliber, AR-15 style firearm, and had multiple magazines and smoke grenades when he stormed the school wearing a gas mask:

Investigators believe the suspect pulled the fire alarm to draw people out of classrooms and increase the number of casualties, a law enforcement source told CNN. But the school already had a fire drill earlier in the day, leading some to think it was a false alarm.

While some left the building, others sought cover in classrooms as the school went into lockdown and the gunman went on his rampage.

One teacher said she was on her way out of the building after the fire alarm when another staff member told her the situation was code red — an active shooter. Melissa Falkowski returned to a classroom and hid in a closet with 19 students from her newspaper class for nearly 40 minutes.

Some students texted goodbyes to loved ones, whilst others used their phones to share startling footage of the carnage on social media.

Below is a look at how terrifying it was, and this it not even the worst video to come from the shooting:

Surveillance footage showed students and teachers fleeing from the school in single file following the shooting, which has been named as the eighth deadliest mass shootings in modern US history.

A brief look at the day, from The Guardian:

Police arrived at the scene to find hundreds of students fleeing the school and later learned that the shooter had used the fleeing students as a cover to escape.

After trawling through surveillance video, investigators were able to identify him and arrest him about two hours after the shooting in a nearby neighbourhood.

Cruz, below, mid-arrest:

Police are investigating Cruz’s digital footprint, Sheriff Scott Israel said:

So far, what they’ve found is “very, very disturbing”.

“He literally had an Instagram where he posted pictures of animals he killed gruesomely and he physically assaulted one of my friends once,” a student added.

Two pics from his Instagram:

According to the Daily Mail, Cruz was “adopted as an infant and raised by Roger and Lynda Cruz”. Family say his adoptive mother died a few months ago.

As a high school freshman, Cruz was part of the US military-sponsored Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corp programme at the school.

After the horrific event, many students from the school spoke out about Cruz’s character, from The Guardian:

Dakota Mutchler, a 17-year-old junior at the school, said he had once been friends with the suspect, but that Cruz started “progressively getting a little more weird, and I kind of cut off from him”. Mutchler said Cruz posted about killing animals on social media and talked about guns and target practice.

“Everyone in the school that knew him speculated about him,” said Mutchler. “When someone’s expelled, you don’t really expect them to come back … If they’re expelled, they’re gone. But of course, he came back.”

Mutchler added that he stopped communicating with the suspect after “he started going after one of my friends and threatening her”.

Cruz worked at a discount store near the school, Mutchler said.

Victoria Olvera, also a 17-year-old junior, said of the suspect: “At first, he was really nice.” But later, she said, “he just changed. As far as I knew, he was like a future school shooter.”

One student at the school, speaking to CNN but without disclosing his identity, said: “A lot of people were saying that it was going to be him. All the kids joked … saying he was the one that screwed up at school, but it turns out everyone predicted it. That’s crazy.”

Milan Parodie, 15, had a similar impression of him:

“I could tell he tried to be social at times but there was something off about him,” she said. “I never really saw him with many people. Girls thought he was creepy and weird. He was pretty pale with red hair. I didn’t talk to him that much, but from what I could tell he wasn’t a nice kid. He wore a lot of black and was always alone.

“I’ve seen him wear a Trump hat,” another student said.

He probably loved this ad from the NRA, too.

Those who died included students and adults. Twelve were killed inside the building, two died outside, one died in the street and two died at the hospital. Fifteen victims remain in hospital: five in a life-threatening condition and 10 with injuries that are not life-threatening.

The school will remain closed for a week.

Meanwhile, this from the NRA:

I mean, what kind of message is that sending?

[source:cnn&thedailybeast&dailymail&theguardian]