Multi-casualty Incident at Florida High School

Multiple Dead; Shooter in Custody Following Incident at Florida High School

The 19-year-old shooter is now in custody.

 [UPDATE: February 14, 2018 8:30 PM]

A 19-year-old male ambushed his former high school with an assault rifle on Wednesday, killing 17 people and injuring over a dozen more in the deadliest shooting on an American school in 2018. 

Officials confirmed the alleged shooter was Nikolas Cruz, a former student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Local news stations reported Cruz had been expelled from the school late last year as he had become a threat to those around him. Students told reporters he had not been able to bring a backpack to school in his last few weeks as a student.

Broward Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that Cruz had shot and killed 17 people with an AR-15 style firearm. A dozen people were found dead inside the school, two outside the school's building and a third person was found dead on the street near the campus. Two more people succumbed to their wounds at the hospital.

Reports of shots fired were received by police shortly before 3 p.m. local time. Witnesses told reporters that the fire alarm had been triggered and students began to flood the hallways marking their way to designated "evacuation zones" when the gunfire rang out. Student said they heard two to three shots at first, unable to place the sound, before they heard upwards of 40 more gunshots in the classrooms around them.

A Snapchat video of the incident showed student huddled in the corner of a classroom, under desks, while six to 10 gunshots fired off in the next classroom.

A heavy police response followed, FBI and SWAT team members could be seen on the scene within 30 minutes of the first call to 911. Students were placed on lockdown in "Code Red" as police started the intense manhunt for Cruz. 

Nearly an hour and a half after gunfire rang out police in the next town over, less than a mile from the campus took Cruz into custody. He was searched and placed into a police cruiser for a short period of time before he was loaded into an ambulance and taken to a nearby hospital for a leg injury.

Doctors at local hospitals told reporters that all of the victims transported to their facilities suffered gunshot wounds. Three were in critical condition.

This is the 18th instance of gun violence on an American middle or high school in 2018. Three weeks ago two students were killed and 18 more were injured when a student open fired on students at Marshall County High School in Kentucky. 

[UPDATE: February 14, 2018 3:30 PM]

Broward Sheriff has tweeted that the shooter in the Parkland, Florida school shooting is now in custody an hour and a half after reports of shots fired at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Local news reports say the shooter was a former student of the high school and the shooting happened in the school's freshman building.

The amount of people injured in the incident is still unknown, but local news stations have said at least four people have been admitted to a local hospital. Senator Bill Nelson told CBS News that there are multiple fatalities in the shooting.

Hundreds of police, FBI and members of SWAT responded to the scene on Wednesday. The school's website says there are nearly 3,000 students enrolled at the school.

Original story below.

Authorities are responding to reports of a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. The situation is ongoing and will be updated as more information becomes available.

The Broward Sheriff's Office said there are reports of victims. At least 20 people have been injured, a local fire department told CBS Miami. Students are streaming out of the school, but law enforcement says there are still numerous students still hiding in inside school closets.

The shooter is still at large, the sheriff's office said via Twitter. Law enforcement is going from room to room to neutralize the shooter.

The White House said President Trump has been briefed on the shooting and is monitoring the situation.

Students at the school were being evacuated to West Glades Middle School Wednesday afternoon

Emergency workers at the scene of a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Coral Springs, Florida, Feb. 14, 2018.

SWAT teams were seen entering the campus with canines. A number of people could be seen being loaded into ambulances on a stretcher, reports CBS Miami. Students were seen being led across the street with their hands over their heads.

Officers asked people to avoid the area. The Coral Springs Police Department told teachers and students to remain barricaded inside until police reach them.

CBS Miami's Rick Folbaum was speaking over text message with a student at the school who is hiding in a closet.

"All of a sudden there was a really loud noise…..people are crying the closet," the student wrote to him.

This is a developing story and will be updated. 

Featured

  • From Surveillance to Intelligence

    Years ago, it would have been significantly more expensive to run an analytic like that — requiring a custom-built solution with burdensome infrastructure demands — but modern edge devices have made it accessible to everyone. It also saves time, which is a critical factor if a missing child is involved. Video compression technology has played a critical role as well. Over the years, significant advancements have been made in video coding standards — including H.263, MPEG formats, and H.264—alongside compression optimization technologies developed by IP video manufacturers to improve efficiency without sacrificing quality. The open-source AV1 codec developed by the Alliance for Open Media—a consortium including Google, Netflix, Microsoft, Amazon and others — is already the preferred decoder for cloud-based applications, and is quickly becoming the standard for video compression of all types. Read Now

  • Cost: Reactive vs. Proactive Security

    Security breaches often happen despite the availability of tools to prevent them. To combat this problem, the industry is shifting from reactive correction to proactive protection. This article will examine why so many security leaders have realized they must “lead before the breach” – not after. Read Now

  • Achieving Clear Audio

    In today’s ever-changing world of security and risk management, effective communication via an intercom and door entry communication system is a critical communication tool to keep a facility’s staff, visitors and vendors safe. Read Now

  • Beyond Apps: Access Control for Today’s Residents

    The modern resident lives in an app-saturated world. From banking to grocery delivery, fitness tracking to ridesharing, nearly every service demands another download. But when it comes to accessing the place you live, most people do not want to clutter their phone with yet another app, especially if its only purpose is to open a door. Read Now

  • Survey: 48 Percent of Worshippers Feel Less Safe Attending In-Person Services

    Almost half (48%) of those who attend religious services say they feel less safe attending in-person due to rising acts of violence at places of worship. In fact, 39% report these safety concerns have led them to change how often they attend in-person services, according to new research from Verkada conducted online by The Harris Poll among 1,123 U.S. adults who attend a religious service or event at least once a month. Read Now

Most   Popular

New Products

  • Camden CM-221 Series Switches

    Camden CM-221 Series Switches

    Camden Door Controls is pleased to announce that, in response to soaring customer demand, it has expanded its range of ValueWave™ no-touch switches to include a narrow (slimline) version with manual override. This override button is designed to provide additional assurance that the request to exit switch will open a door, even if the no-touch sensor fails to operate. This new slimline switch also features a heavy gauge stainless steel faceplate, a red/green illuminated light ring, and is IP65 rated, making it ideal for indoor or outdoor use as part of an automatic door or access control system. ValueWave™ no-touch switches are designed for easy installation and trouble-free service in high traffic applications. In addition to this narrow version, the CM-221 & CM-222 Series switches are available in a range of other models with single and double gang heavy-gauge stainless steel faceplates and include illuminated light rings.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    The latest Qualcomm® Vision Intelligence Platform offers next-generation smart camera IoT solutions to improve safety and security across enterprises, cities and spaces. The Vision Intelligence Platform was expanded in March 2022 with the introduction of the QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC), which delivers superior artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing at the edge.