'Everyone predicted it': Students had 'joked' that suspect would shoot up the Florida high school

pulse

February 15, 2018 11:42 AM

Nikolas Cruz, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, is suspected of fatally shooting at least 17 people at the school on Wednesday.

Nikolas Cruz is accused of killing at least 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Wednesday.
The 19-year-old who was expelled from the school flaunted pictures of firearms on his phone and is thought to have posed with toy guns on social media.
Students previously "joked" that Cruz would shoot up the school, a student said.

Students at the Florida high school where at least 17 people were killed in a deadly shooting on Wednesday had "predicted" that the suspect would "shoot up the school" one day, a student said.

Authorities have accused Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old who was expelled from the school where the shooting took place, of inflicting carnage with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle on Wednesday afternoon in Parkland, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale.

Cruz, who was reportedly expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for disciplinary reasons, flaunted pictures of firearms on his phone and appeared to pose with toy guns on Instagram.

An unnamed student told the Jacksonville, Florida-based WJXT news channel that students "joked" that Cruz would one day shoot up the school.

Having once been a student, Cruz would have been familiar with the school's layout and emergency procedures, the student said.

The student said: "Honestly, a lot of people were saying it was going to be him. All kids joked around like that, saying that he was going to be the one to shoot up the school.

"It turns out everyone predicted it. That's crazy.

"He was on the third floor. He knows the school layout. He knows where everyone would be at.

"He's been with us through fire drills — he's prepared for this stuff."

Authorities think the gunman intentionally set off the school's fire alarms "so the kids would come pouring out of the classrooms into the hall," during the shooting, Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida said on CNN.

"There the carnage began," Nelson said.

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