Florida School Shooter Was Not Affiliated With ISIS, Despite Infowars Report

In the confusing aftermath of Wednesday's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in [...]

In the confusing aftermath of Wednesday's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, some outlets were publishing rumors that the confessed shooter, Nikolas Cruz, was affiliated with Islamic extremist groups. However, new fact-checking shows that that is not the case.

The idea that Cruz was connected with ISIS, ISIL or some other Islamic terrorist cell really started to take hold when it was reported by Infowars.com. The right-leaning outlet postulated that Cruz was in some way sympathetic to Islamic terrorists, based primarily on an Instagram post he had made.

Cruz posted a screenshot of his web browser, where he had Google searched the phrase "Allahu Akbar." The phrase is used in all walks of life for practitioners of Islam — primarily in prayer, though extremists have shouted it before and after violent attacks.

However, Infowars failed to report on the caption of the Instagram post, which offered an explanation as to why Cruz might be looking up the phrase.

"Well at least we now know what it means when a sand d— says 'allahu Akbar,'" Cruz wrote, using a racial slur for middle eastern people.

The other major point in Infowars' article was the range of militant outfits Cruz wore in many of his Instagram posts.

"Additionally, the shooter's garb is very similar to the style worn by ISIS fighters in Syria," the outlet wrote.

Many of Cruz's selfies show him with a black scarf or buff covering his mouth and nose, similar to what soldiers on both sides wear in desert climates.

However, many of Cruz's outfits pair the scarf with a hat — notably, a U.S. Army hat, and a "Make America Great Again" hat. As pointed out on Snopes, these would be unlikely fashion choices for an Islamic terrorist. Cruz was also a member of the schools JROTC program, and friends said his greatest ambition was to be a soldier in the U.S. Army.

Since the horrific attack on Stoneman Douglas High, Cruz's former classmates, teachers and friends have verified that Cruz was a flagrant racist, who often used racial slurs and spoke hatefully of Mexican people, black people, Jewish people, and many other groups.

Cruz is currently being held without bond. He confessed to the shooting on Feb. 14, and is expected to plead guilty to 17 charges of premeditated murder.

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