Sunshine State Marred by High School Massacre

A gunman, later identified as Nikolas Cruz (19), waged terror in his former high-school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, slaughtering 17 unknowing victims both students and adults alike, leaving a question in the nations mind as to why this happened again.

Cruz, began his rampage at around 2:40, close to the dismissal time of 3:00 for students attending. “The suspect, Nikolas Cruz, 19, gunned down victims with a rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland shortly before 3 p.m. after he allegedly activated a fire alarm, sending people outside unaware of what was to come, officials said,”  Faith Karimi, Emanuella Grinberg and Jason Hanna, CNN. Sources reported that he pulled the fire alarm, a warning to everyone to escape, but in reality they were walking towards their own death.

Within 10 minutes of Cruz raining terror upon the innocent victims of Parkland, he had killed 12 people inside the school, 3 outside of the building, and 2 later on dying from theri injuries.“He said a football coach was among the dead, and the son of a deputy sheriff among the injured,”Audra D.S. Burch and Patricia Mazzei, The New York Times. Cruz, lured out the students with the fire alarm, equipped with a rifle, magazines, a gas mask, and smoke grenades, he wreaked havoc upon the school. “The aftermath at the school was an eerie shrine, with chairs upended, a computer screen shattered with bullet holes and floors stained with blood” Audra D.S. Burch and Patricia Mazzei, The New York Times.

About an hour after the chaos began, Cruz was captured a few miles from the school and taken into custody. He blended in with the crowd as everyone was trying to escape the madness.“Cruz confessed to police to being the gunman, according to a probable cause affidavit” Faith Karimi, Emanuella Grinberg and Jason Hanna, CNN.

As for Nikolas Cruz’s motive, authorities stated that he has gone through a lot in a short amount of time and was mentally ill. “He’s gone through a lot in a very short period of time and that does not minimize the loss of those families, but we have to put that into the proper light,” Gordon Weekes said. “He is suffering from significant mental illness and significant trauma and he has some very difficult decisions to make shortly and we’re going to assist him with those decisions”Faith Karimi, Emanuella Grinberg and Jason Hanna, CNN.

There is a constant recurrence with these massacres, the shooter are mentally ill/unstable. Why is it that there has been nothing done as of yet, to create an awareness or help those in need before they create yet another catastrophe, destroying innocent lives. According to sources, Cruz, is said to have made threatening posts on social media over a period of time.

“Posts under videos on YouTube and other sites by someone using the name Nikolas Cruz include threatening comments, such as:

“I whana shoot people with my AR-15.”

“I wanna die Fighting killing s**t ton of people.”

“I am going to kill law enforcement one day they go after the good people”’Faith Karimi, Emanuella Grinberg and Jason Hanna, CNN.

Why was this not a warning, why was he able to say these utterances online, and not have anyone report it? How many more shooting need to happen for someone to realize that something needs to be done.

With that being said, in the government, the gun debate has returned with a vengeance. This has been the 4th school shooting so far this year, and it’s only February. “The shooting revived the debate over gun control in the United States, with some blaming congressional inaction for the massacre while others say now is not the time for such political battles,” Faith Karimi, Emanuella Grinberg and Jason Hanna, CNN.

Nikolas Cruz was not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to buy a gun that was used in multiple homicides, hence why there needs to be even more of a limitation on guns and who can buy them where to prevent yet another shooting.