Another unimaginable tragedy struck a high school in Florida, as a student opened fire just before 3pm EST outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, just outside of Boca Raton.
While very few details have been released about what is still an active situation, here's the information we've gathered from sources close to the incident.
- A former student, who is now in custody, is the prime suspect.
- While no specific numbers have been released, the Sheriff's Department refers to it as a "mass casualty" situation, which usually is a term not used unless there are more than 20 known injuries
- There was a report around 4pm EST that there were "many deaths", but that report has not been confirmed. However, a tweet from Florida Senator Bill Nelson seems to echo that report.
- According to ABC affiliate WSVN, an unidentified student who knows the shooter claims he was "a troubled kid" that had always shot guns because it gave him an "exhilirating feeling".
- The same student claimed the shooter had shown him several pictures of guns on his phone
UPDATE (5:00pm) The shooter has been identified as Nicolas Cruz, a former student. At least 15 are now confirmed dead, including a teacher who died trying to save students.
It feels like stories just like this one are happening way too often, as we're less than a week removed from a 14-year old opening fire outside Pearl-Cohn High School in North Nashville on Friday.
Without getting politics involved, I think we can all agree that this sort of senseless violence needs to stop and needs to stop now.
We will continue to update this thread as more information comes in.