Expelled student massacres 17 pupils at Florida school

Washington: An expelled former student armed with a powerful assault rifle unleashed a hail of gunfire in a Florida high school, killing at least 17 persons and injuring 15 others, including an Indian-American student, in one of the grizzliest mass shootings in the US.

The 19-year-old suspect identified as Nikolas Cruz, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland who was expelled for disciplinary reasons, was arrested shortly after the deadly rampage on Wednesday. The school has a large number of Indian-American students and at least one student from the community sustained minor injuries after he was hit by splinters. The ninth grader is being treated at a hospital.

Cruz was a troubled teenager who posted disturbing material on social media before the shooting spree, officials said.

"Nicolas Cruz was the killer. He is in custody. We already began to dissect his websites and social media that he was on ... some of the things that come to mind are very, very disturbing," Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters in Florida. He had a variety of gun and violence-related postings on social media sites.

"He had countless magazines, multiple magazines, and at this point, we believe he had one AR-15 rifle," he said. He was also equipped with a gas mask and smoke grenades. According to investigators, Cruz pulled the fire alarm to draw people out of classrooms and increase the number of casualties, the CNN reported.

Israel said Cruz was expelled from the school for disciplinary reasons. "I don't know the specifics," the sheriff said. However, according to media reports, Cruz was expelled last year after a fight with his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend. The gunfire began outside the school and continued inside, where 12 of the victims were killed, Israel said. All of those victims have been identified, he said, but no identities will be made public until the families of all of those affected have been notified.

"This is a sad day for the country and the community. We all Indian-Americans are praying for the victims," Shekar Reddy, whose friend's son was among those injured in the mass shooting, said. Parkland, with a population of 31,000 in 2016, was named Florida's safest city last year, according to one analysis.

President Donald Trump offered his "prayers and condolences to the families of the victims. "My prayers and condolences to the families of the victims of the terrible Florida shooting. No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school," Trump tweeted.

The mass shooting incident revived debate over gun control in the US. Florida Senator Chris Murphy termed it as "a horrific scene" playing out at a high school in South Florida. "Turn on your television right now, you're going to see scenes of children running for their lives. It's what looks to be the [18]th school shooting in this country, and we have not even hit March," he said on the Senate floor.