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Sheriff's report: Suspect confessed to Florida school attack
Fired into five classrooms
W Lead Shooting photo
Marla Eveillard, 14, cries as she hugs friends before the start of a vigil at the Parkland Baptist Church, for the victims of Wednesday's shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Thursday. Nikolas Cruz, a former student, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder Thursday morning. - photo by Associated Press
PARKLAND, Fla. — The teenager accused of using a semi-automatic rifle to kill 17 people at a Florida high school confessed to carrying out one of the nation's deadliest school shootings and concealing extra ammunition in his backpack, according to a sheriff's department report released Thursday.Nikolas Cruz told investigators that he shot students in the hallways and on the grounds of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, north of Miami, the report from the Broward County Sheriff's Office said.Cruz told officers he brought more loaded magazines to the school and kept them hidden in the backpack until he got on campus.The gunman fired into five classrooms — four on the first floor of the school and one on the second floor, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said.When he was done shooting, the assailant dropped his AR-15 rifle and the backpack containing the ammunition and ran out of the building, attempting to blend in with fleeing students, Israel said.After the rampage, the suspect headed to a Wal-Mart and bought a drink at a Subway restaurant before walking to a McDonald's. He was taken into custody about 40 minutes after leaving the McDonald's, the sheriff said.A day after the attack, a fuller portrait emerged of the shooter, a loner who had worked at a dollar store, joined the school's ROTC program and posted photos of weapons on Instagram. At least one student said classmates joked that Cruz would "be the one to shoot up the school."Cruz, a 19-year-old orphan whose mother died last year, was charged with murder Thursday in the assault that devastated this sleepy community on the edge of the Everglades.
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