The shooter in Wednesday afternoon’s Florida school shooting used a firearm similar to the one used several previous mass shootings.
WSVN reports that the shooter used an AR-15-style semi-automatic assault rifle to kill 17 people and injuring more than a dozen more. The suspect, identified as Nikolaus Cruz, apparently had multiple magazines with him during the crime.
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The Colt AR-15 and other competitors’ similar models have served as the primary weapons in massing shootings such as the 2012 Aurora, Colorado, movie theater shooting and the 2015 San Bernardino, California, attack.
The Colorado shooter, James Holmes, used a Smith & Wesson M&P15 during the shooting that killed 12 people. Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the perpetrators behind the San Bernardino shooting, used rifles similar to the AR-15, as well.
Additionally, murderer Adam Lanza used another weapon in the AR-15 style, a Bushmaster XM15-E2S, in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 27.
The most recent high-profile shooting to use an AR-15 style weapon was the Sutherland Springs, Texas, church shooting. Shooter Devin Patrick Kelley used Remington’s Ruger AR-556 in the attack.
All these guns are derivatives of Colt’s design, which is known for its ability to be customized and loads magazines containing large amounts of rounds. “AR-15” is commonly used as the blanket term for these types of weapons, whether one of Colt’s designs was used or not.
In Wednesday’s attack in Florida, 12 people died inside the school, two died outside the school, one died on the road by the school and two died more after being taken to a hospital. WSVN reports that no families have yet been notified and victims have yet to be identified.
The outlet also reports 12 more people are currently receiving treatment for injuries related to the mass shooting, which ranks as one of the deadliest in U.S. history.
The suspect in the shooting is 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz. Authorities arrested him without incident at a townhouse located in Pelican Pointe at Wyndham Lakes in Coral Springs, Florida.
The suspect was taken to the hospital for minor injuries before being taken to the Broward County sheriff’s office.
Cruz was a former student of the school but was reportedly asked to leave late last spring after threatening students. The sheriff confirmed Cruz was asked to leaving due to “disciplinary issues.”
“We were told last year that he wasn’t allowed on campus with a backpack on him,” math teacher Jim Gard told The Miami Herald. “There were problems with him last year threatening students, and I guess he was asked to leave campus.”
Two Instagram accounts reportedly belonging to Cruz had shared numerous photos of guns, knives and other weapons in recent months.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI are currently investigating the crime scene.
