On Wednesday February 14th tragedy struck Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Parkland is a city in Broward County and it is about an hour north of Miami. It was a normal day for students and faculty as they were at school on a normal Valentine’s day until horror walked through the door. Nikolas Cruz, a 19 year old monster was born in Margate, Florida. Cruz was a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Cruz got expelled from the school for disciplinary actions. Cruz owned a rifle and apparently his mom knew of it but made house rules that it has to be remained locked up in a box.
Cruz ordered an Uber at 2:06 p.m. which brought him to the high school and he arrived at the high school at 2:19 p.m.. Cruz carried his rifle into the building in a case. As he entered the high school he walked to a fire alarm and pulled it. This made students and faculty to frantically stop what they were doing and walk out of the classrooms in an attempt to leave the building. That was the moment that Cruz opened fire as he made his way down the hallway. After 7 minutes of firing helpless students and faculty, Cruz dropped his rifle in an attempt to blend in with other students hecticly running out of the school to get to safe grounds. At approximately 2:28 p.m., Cruz walked out of the building and headed to the tennis courts with other students which are adjacent to the school. At about 2:50 p.m., Cruz decided to go into a Walmart to grab a drink from the Subway that was located inside the Walmart. He then walked to McDonald’s and walked in and sat down. At 3:41 p.m., the authorities had caught up to him and found him. Cruz was captured and put into handcuffs. Cruz was then brought to a local hospital in custody to be checked for any injuries before being transported.
This deadly shooting marks the 18th school shooting of 2018 as it has only been a month and a half into the year. The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is one of the most deadly shootings in US history as there were a total of 17 fatalities between students and faculty. There were also many people injured or critically injured who were fighting for their life in the hospital. The following are the 17 victims that were helplessly gunned down by Nikolas Cruz. Alyssa Alhadeff was fourteen years old and played soccer for Parkland Travel Soccer. Scott Beigel was thirty-five years old and was shot dead as he was trying to get students back into the class after seeing Cruz in the hallway. Martin Duque Anguiano was a funny outgoing fourteen year old boy. Nicholas Dworet was seventeen years old and was recruited to be on the University of Indianapolis swim team. Aaron Feis was a thirty-seven year old assistant football coach for the high school team. Feis was the definition of a hero as he got shot while jumping in front of bullets from Cruz’s AR-15 rifle to protect students that were being shot at. Jaime Guttenberg was fourteen years old as she passed away. Chris Hixon was a forty-nine year old who was the school’s athletic director and also a US Navy veteran. Luke Hoyer was a fifteen year old boy who was also smiling. Cara Loughran was a fourteen year old girl who danced at the Drake School of Irish Dance. Gina Montalto was a fourteen year old girl who was a part of the winter guard on the high school’s marching band. Joaquin Oliver was a seventeen year old boy who just became a citizen of the US just over a year ago. Alaina Petty was a fourteen year old girl who loved to volunteer her time helping others in need and she was also part of the junior ROTC program at the high school. Meadow Pollack was an eighteen year old girl, she was expecting to attend Lynn University in the upcoming fall semester. Helena Ramsay was a seventeen year old girl who was very kind-hearted. Alex Schachter was a fourteen year old boy who was a part of the high school’s marching band as well as the orchestra. Carmen Schentrup was a sixteen year old girl and was a National Merit Scholar semifinalist. Lastly is Peter Wang who was a fifteen year old boy, he was shot dead while holding the door open in order to help fellow classmates get to safety. Thousands of individuals have signed a White House petition in an attempt to get Wang buried with military honors.