The gunman behind the school shooting in Parkland, Florida allegedly planned for the carnage to be far worse.
According to an official briefed on the shooting, who spoke with CBS Miami, confessed gunman Nikolas Cruz attempted to create a sniper’s nest on the third-floor stairwell of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School freshmen building.
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Cruz attempted to create a sniper’s nest by shooting out the glass window in the stairwell, firing 16 rounds into the impact glass. Luckily, the hurricane proof window did not shatter. Cruz then attempted to reload, and after changing magazine clips, the weapon …
— Jim DeFede (@DeFede) February 27, 2018
Investigators believe that Cruz, 19, attempted to create a vantage point, allowing him to shoot at students below, firing 16 rounds into the impact glass, which failed to shatter due to it being hurricane proof. It is believed that Cruz then attempted to reload the AR-15 he used in the shooting, but after changing magazine clips, the weapon jammed.
…is believed to have jammed, according to three sources familiar with the investigation. Frustrated, and with police now responding, Cruz dropped the gun in the stairwell, ran down to the ground floor and fled the building with the students.
— Jim DeFede (@DeFede) February 27, 2018
Cruz managed to escape the scene by concealing “himself in the crowd and was among those running out of the school.” Investigators combed through security footage at the school in order to identify Cruz, which led to his arrest “in a nearby neighborhood in Coral Springs” by Coconut Creek PD within two hours of the shooting. He was taken into custody without incident and transported to a local hospital for exhibiting labored breathing. Upon being released back into police custody, he was taken to a police station for questioning.
It is believed that at the time that the 19-year-old fled, he still had more than 150 rounds of ammunition.
The Valentine’s Day shooting resulted in the deaths of 17 students and teachers and injured more than a dozen.
CBS reporter Jim DeFede claims that the knowledge that Cruz’s gun may have jammed, resulting in lives saved, led U.S. Senator Marco Rubio to change his stance on magazine capacity limits. During the CNN Town Hall, Rubio announced that he now favors banning high capacity magazines.
