Teachers were warned in advance about the teenager who allegedly carried out a mass shooting at his former school in Florida. Nikolas Cruz has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder following the deadliest shooting at a US school since 2012.
A teacher said Cruz was not allowed on campus with a backpack.Seventeen people were killed in the attack and many more injured. Several people are in a critical condition.
Cruz, 19, apparently left the scene of the shooting by blending in with fleeing students, but was arrested several miles away and is now in police custody.
Maths teacher Jim Gard told the Miami Herald that school authorities had emailed teachers about Cruz’s behaviour.
“We were told last year that he wasn’t allowed on campus with a backpack on him,” Gard told the Miami Herald.
“There were problems with him last year threatening students, and I guess he was asked to leave campus.”
Reports suggest that a fire alarm at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was deliberately set off at 14:30 local time (19:30 GMT).The alarm caused some students and staff to leave their classrooms.
Witnesses said that the gunman was deploying smoke grenades and wearing a gas mask.
Students told US media they hid under desks or in store cupboards or barricaded doors as loud shots rang out.
A teacher said she hid in a closet with 19 students for 40 minutes – and that the school underwent training for such a situation six weeks ago.
