Authorities in Broward County have confirmed that the gunman in Wednesday's (February 14) mass shooting at a Parkland, FL high school was a student who hasn't attended classes there since being expelled last year.
Many of those in attendance who may have caught a glimpse of the shooter as he penetrated Marjory Stoneman Douglas High with a gun in hand, likely couldn't recognize him as 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz because he is reported to have been wearing a gas mask. But a number of the 130 teachers and 3,200 pupils in the 9th through 12th-grade student body have no doubt been reflecting on the surreal realization that they've engaged the teen at one time or another - since his identity as the attacker was revealed.
According to numerous accounts, Cruz was known to have been a loner who was relatively soft-spoken, but troubled. Math teacher Jim Gard, for example, told CNN that he was "a quiet kid" who he "never had any problems" with. However, he admitted that not every teacher's experience was his own and that as recently as early 2017 an email went around informing staff that he wasn't allowed on campus.
Cruz was reportedly dismissed from Marjory Stoneman because of behavioral issues. After surviving an ambush that took the lives of 17 and injured 14 others, there are more than a few members of the faculty who feel like they've witnessed their worse fears about the young guns and hunting enthusiast play out. But not everybody is shocked.
“I can’t say I was shocked. From past experiences, he seemed like the kind of kid who would do something like this,” a former classmate by the name of Joshua Charo reportedly told the Miami Herald.
According to the Associated Press, Cruz has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.