School shooting Florida

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An arrest report makes it clear that staffers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High immediately recognized Nikolas Cruz as a “former troubled student” as he emerged Wednesday from a small gold Uber car, carrying a black duffel bag and wearing a black hat. One staffer radioed a co-worker to alert authorities that Cruz was “walking purposefully” toward the school in Parkland.

But within seconds, it was too late. Cruz, according to an arrest report, methodically began firing an AR-15 assault rifle that had been stashed in the bag, methodically mowing down students and adults in the hallways. As chaos ensued, Cruz admitted to homicide detectives, the gunman ditched the gun to “blend into the crowd” fleeing the school.
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It seems like everyone knew that Cruz was a ticking time bomb. Including the police, who were very familiar with Cruz and his behavior.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article200373444.html
 
There is footage circulating, filmed by a neighbor, of him shooting off a BB gun in his backyard whilst in his undergarments. It looks suspiciously like he is wearing a MAGA hat, but I can't see well enough to tell. I am having trouble posting a still, but maybe one of our resident tekkies can zoom it in for us and post? Not saying that it has anything to do with the shooting (as of yet), but interesting nonetheless.

ETA for video link https://www.standard.co.uk/news/wor...g-target-practice-in-his-garden-a3768051.html
 
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Ranb said:
Does anyone here believe that lack of a specific type of rapid fire gun is going to keep a killer like this one away from schools where he can kill with near impunity? I don't; it may inhibit some though
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I don't. I think a categorical ban on all semi-automatic rifles would probably bring the kill numbers down some but bans of specific models like the AR-15 have never made sense to me even as a purely emotional "do something" reaction.
 
An AK-15 is not an assault rifle. An assault rifle has a selector (this is military terminology) that can be set for single shot, burst (depending on design 3 or 5 shots last I heard/read about it) and auto-fire. The weapon he had was single shot only. And, I suspect we are talking about AR-15. AK is usually the Kalishnikov design (AK-47)
 
Civet said:
I don't. I think a categorical ban on all semi-automatic rifles would probably bring the kill numbers down some but bans of specific models like the AR-15 have never made sense to me even as a purely emotional "do something" reaction.
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Why ban rifles, which are statistically almost never used in crimes, and not pistols, which are pretty much always the guns used in crimes, and are easily concealed as well, and account for most gun deaths?
 
LTC8K6 said:
Why ban rifles, which are statistically almost never used in crimes, and not pistols, which are pretty much always the guns used in crimes, and are easily concealed as well, and account for most gun deaths?
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I was talking specifically about spree killings at schools. I make no representation that banning any type of rifle would have any significant impact on overall homicide rates.
 
Ranb said:
Does anyone here believe that lack of a specific type of rapid fire gun is going to keep a killer like this one away from schools where he can kill with near impunity? I don't; it may inhibit some though
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That's both a false dichotomy and a straw man all rolled into one.

Are you answering someone in particular that makes your statement relevant?

Keeping deadly kids out of schools is one issue.

Keeping weapons capable of rapid killing en masse out of the hands of kids is another.

Limiting access to weapons capable of rapid killing en masse is another.

At a minimum making it harder for any homicidal person to rack up the body count is a valuable action to take. There is no reason people need 100-bullet clips. And the fact people can modify guns or drive cars into pedestrian crowds is not a valid reason to take no action whatsoever against rapid fire guns.

Prove you have a need for such armament. There's nothing in the second amendment that says people have a right to any arms they want. If that were true people should be able to own SAMs, who cares they might shoot a plane down.

Make it harder, you will at least see fewer deaths.
 
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Skeptic Ginger said:
That's both a false dichotomy and a straw man all rolled into one.

Are you answering someone in particular that makes your statement relevant?

Keeping deadly kids out of schools is one issue.

Keeping weapons capable of rapid killing en masse out of the hands of kids is another.

Limiting access to weapons capable of rapid killing en masse is another.

At a minimum making it harder for any homicidal person to rack up the body count is a valuable action to take. There is no reason people need 100-bullet clips. And the fact people can modify guns or drive cars into pedestrian crowds is not a valid reason to take no action whatsoever against rapid fire guns.

Prove you have a need for such armament. There's nothing in the second amendment that says people have a right to any arms they want. If that were true people should be able to own SAMs, who cares they might shoot a plane down.

Make it harder, you will at least see fewer deaths.
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The big issue I'm having is we can't even disallow people from owning firearms even if they show clear violent tendencies. Police showed up at this shooters house 39 times over the last few years.... 39 times! But they can't do anything to prevent him from committing mass murder. The gun lobby, and lots of shooters (and I talk to them in RL) are up in arms over the government getting their guns. Theres some story circulating about some guy (maybe) unfairly having his guns taken in Colorado because of a domestic violence charge. That's always brought up anytime the idea of maybe disallowing violent people from owning weapons.

I own an AR-15... if I start spouting off how I want to go kill people with it on the internet then maybe I shouldn't be allowed to have it anymore. I'm cool with that given some form of due process.
 
I was formerly of the opinion that this guy should be hanged, drawn, quartered and disembowelled in a public place and his remains dispersed to a landfill.

However, it is now apparent that this guy is a classic case of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder, abandoned at birth and adopted by a long-suffering lady who had to call out emergency services a staggering 37 times in seven years, including 'mental illness incident' and 'child/elder domestic abuse'.

This is truly heartbreaking in more ways than one:

Conditions can range from mild to severe:

Abnormal facial features (such as a smooth ridge between the nose and upper lip)
Small head size
Shorter-than-average height
Low body weight
Poor coordination
Hyperactive behavior
Difficulty with attention
Poor memory
Difficulty in school (especially with math)
Learning disabilities
Speech and language delays
Intellectual disability or low IQ
Poor reasoning and judgment skills
Sleep and sucking problems as a baby
Vision or hearing problems
Problems with the heart, kidneys, or bones
There are no tests to diagnose FASD, and therefore doctors must rely on physical or mental signs.

Typically what is looked for are abnormal facial features; lower-than-average height, weight, or both; and central nervous system problems.

FASD is a lifelong disability for which there is no cure.
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Whether Cruz has FASD or not, it seems clear from his strange facial features that he has a congenital condition.

The question that needs to be asked, is how come nobody did anything about it?
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
...
Keeping deadly kids out of schools is one issue.

Keeping weapons capable of rapid killing en masse out of the hands of kids is another.

Limiting access to weapons capable of rapid killing en masse is another.
...
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These are all links in a chain.

Other links further back up the chain that might be addressable include those around which factors take away someone's hope of a better life and makes them angry and frustrated enough to lash out violently or alternatively to want to take their own life. It would be great if people could be prevented from doing these things but better if they could be prevented from wanting to in the first place. This outsider's impression is that the US looks like a very stressful place to live, with wide inequality between rich and poor and low social mobility making it hard to bridge that gap, combined with a culture which highly prizes self-reliance thus making it seem all the more like whatever your standing (or lack) in society, you got what you deserved.

Even as a comfortably middle class type I'm sure I'd find American-style lack of job security, fewer days vacation and no universal health care stressful. It's undeniable that America's culture has made it hugely wealthy and globally successful, but it doesn't appear to be an especially happy place.
 
After looking at his history of behavior and his apparent persona, I would seriously consider autism.
 
What almost happened but didn't...


FBI: Hello Nikolas, we saw what you wrote on YouTube. Are you actually planning to shoot people at a school?

Cruz: No, I'm not.

FBI: Ok, bye.
 
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