17 DEAD, 15 WOUNDED, FORMER STUDENT IN CUSTODY AFTER BROWARD SCHOOL SHOOTING
A gunman opened fire
Wednesday at a Florida high school, an incident that officials said killed at
least 17 people and left terrified students huddled in their classrooms,
texting friends and family for help.
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| The moment 19 year old Nikolas Cruz was taken into custody by law enforcement Feb 14, 2018. for the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. |
The shooting, one of
several in the United States since the start of the year, will once again throw
the spotlight on the country's epidemic of gun violence and the ready
accessibility of weapons, with 33,000 gun-related deaths annually.
Earlier, the
superintendent of the county's school district, Robert Runcie, said he believed
there were "numerous fatalities," and that the gunman may have been a
former student.
"Just a
horrible day for us," Runcie said, adding that the incident appeared to be
over.
So far, 14
"victims" had been or were being taken to local hospital, the
sheriff's office said. Earlier reports suggested that between 20 and 50 people
had been hurt.
"This is a very
tragic situation for everybody involved," Parkland Mayor Christine Hunschofsky
told CNN, adding that she had spoken to a number of students.
"They were very
scared," she said. "And almost in shock when they came out."
Asked about
security, the mayor said a police officer is always stationed at the school and
there was a "single point of entry."
Television images
showed students being led out of the school by heavily armed police officers
and an armored vehicle filled with a SWAT team arriving at the scene.
One injured victim
was seen being placed into an ambulance on a stretcher.
Police officers in
helmets, bulletproof vests and armed with automatic weapons could be seen
stationed at several points around the sprawling school complex, which houses
nearly 3,000 students.
'EVERYONE STARTED RUNNING'
Student Jeiella
Dodoo told CBS News that she and her schoolmates had evacuated their classroom
calmly after hearing what they thought had been a routine fire alarm.
"The alarm went
off so we had to evacuate from our classes," she said. "Then we heard
gunshots.
"I heard about
six gunshots," she said, "and then some people started running and
then everyone started running because we were like 'If it's real, then just
run.'"
A math teacher at
the school told CBS that he was hiding with six of his students.
"We are fine.
We are waiting," he said.
Caesar Figueroa told
CNN his daughter was hiding in a closet and texting her family.
"She's trapped
with her 10 friends. She said she heard gunshots. A window blew and everybody
is screaming and running, and she said she ran in the closet and she's still
there," Figueroa said.
NO CHILD SHOULD 'FEEL UNSAFE'
"My prayers and
condolences to the families of the victims of the terrible Florida
shooting," President Donald Trump said on Twitter.
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.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2018
"No child,
teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school."
Since January 2013,
"there have been at least 283 school shootings across the country -- which
averages out to one school shooting a week," according to Everytown for
Gun Safety, a non-profit group that advocates for gun control.
Since the 2012
massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 children
and six adults were shot dead, warning procedures and emergency drills have
multiplied at US schools.
Source: TRT World
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