Today we're providing comprehensive coverage of the mass shooting at Majory Stoneman Douglas High School.
What we know...
- 19 year old Nikolas Cruz was identified as the suspect and is in police custody
- Adopted along with a younger brother by Lynda and Roger Cruz in Broward
- Former student at the school
- Expelled for "disciplinary reasons"
- Described by former students as "weird", "off", "loner", "troubled", "sketchy"
- Multiple students said they predicted that if there would be a shooting at the school it'd be because of him
- Both parents are dead - his mom - Lynda died of pneumonia - last November
- Moved into a mobile home in Lantana after Thanksgiving in the wake of his mother's death
- Worked at a local dollar store
- Purchased the weapon and ammo used in the attack legally (AR-15)
- Had provocative and potentially threatening images and entries on social media
- Entered the school and pulled the fire alarm
- Shot and killed 17 (15 who died at the school & 2 two died due to injuries at the hospital)
- 12 additional people were injured
- Deadlier than Columbine (15 deaths including the shooters)
- Deadliest shooting in US on Valentine's Day - eclipsing the St. Valentine's Day massacre in 1929
What we don't...
- Motive
Where do we go from here?
- Pray - rather than just offering "thoughts and prayers"?
- Increased school security?
- More homeschooling?
- Gun control/politics?
Now here's the thing... And these are questions that I think we all should answer. Why is that this happened? Why is it that this is just the latest in a long string of mass killings? Mental health issues aren't new. Guns aren't new. Adversity isn't new. So what's happened in our society that we've gone from 200 years in which this type of attack never occurred - into one in which it's almost a new, awful, normal? There are no easy answers but if we can get to the bottom of that question we'll have an idea of potential solutions.