"Finding out it was him makes a lot of sense now,” Davis said.Ĭruz would joke about shooting people or shooting up establishments, she added. She recalled him as withdrawn and having "a lot of anger management issues." The shooter she saw in photos was Cruz, she said, a classmate who participated in Davis’s ninth grade JROTC group. Israel said the shooter was outside and inside the school at points during the attack.Ĭruz' former classmates say he had a hot temper and a history of making dark, gun-related jokes.Īs friends hiding from the shooter sent photos and videos over Snapchat to 19-year-old Jillian Davis, she started to recognize the man her friends described. Lynda Cruz and her husband, who died of a heart attack several years ago, adopted Nikolas and his biological brother, Zachary, after the couple moved from Long Island in New York to Broward County.īroward County Sheriff Scott Israel confirmed that Cruz was a student at the school at one time, but was not at the time of the shooting. 1 neighbors, friends and family members said, according to The Sun Sentinel. He had previously attracted so much concern that school administrators banned him from campus, said Jim Gard, a math teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.Ĭruz’s mother Lynda Cruz died of pneumonia on Nov. He was also equipped with a gas mask and smoke grenades, police said.Ĭruz had been expelled and did not graduate from the school, according to police. The official said the killer used a military-style rifle, and that students apparently recognized the suspect during the assault. Cruz, whose first name also appears as Nicolas in some official records, was arrested Wednesday a short distance away from the school near a home, after leaving 17 dead in the afternoon attack. The 19-year-old suspect was identified as Nikolas Cruz by the Broward County Sheriff's office. The suspected gunman in Wednesday's fatal attack at a Florida high school is a former student who teachers and former classmates say had an angry disposition that led to him being expelled and flagged as a danger on school grounds.Īt one point, the former student had been listed by school administrators as a potential threat - particularly if he was carrying a backpack on campus. Watch Video: Florida students describe hearing gunshots
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