A school shooting in Florida this week is the second deadliest in U.S. history.
According to FoxNews.com, 19-year-old former student, Nikolaus Cruz, allegedly entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Wednesday February 14 in Parkland, Florida and opened fire, killing 17 and injuring another 15.
Cruz, who was expelled from the school, was a former member of the Junior ROTC there. On Wednesday, he set off fire alarms so students would exit the building clumped together. Using an AR-15 assault rifle, he then picked them off. Afterwards, he tried to melt in with the other students before being arrested about one mile away from the school.
A School Security Guard was a Heroes
One the first to die from the shooting was assistant football coach and security guard Aaron Feis. It was Feis who recognized the sound of gunfire and moved toward it to protect students. He guided several into a classroom and shielded them with his own body while Cruz shot at him.
Willis May, the Head Football Coach, and the team tweeted later, “He died a hero and he will forever be in our hearts and memories.”
Feis was also a 1999 graduate of Stoneman Douglas High School.
School Shooting Suspect Gave Us Many Signs
NBCNews.com reports that Cruz had a “very disturbing” Instagram account where he showed off photos of guns and small animals that he had shot. Some students remember him talking about guns repeatedly. They worried that he seemed like the type of person who might return one day to “shoot up the school.”
He is being charged with 15 counts of pre-meditated murder. As of right now, there is no clear motive for the shooting.
The Second Deadliest School Shooting on Record
This was the 10th school shooting in just over a year. It is also the 25th shooting to take place at an elementary, middle or high school since the Columbine High School shooting where 13 were killed in 1999.
It is also the deadliest since the Sandy Hook Elementary Massacre in 2012 when 20 children were killed. In all, 98 people have died in these shootings.
FoxNews.com is putting together a collection of profiles of those who lost their lives in this school shooting.