February 14, 2018. 3:00pm. It was a normal day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Students were going about their business when the fire alarm went off. As instructed, the students started to exit the building, but when they got outside they did not find shelter. Instead, they were met with former student, Nikolas Cruz, holding a rifle and shooting away.

Nikolas Cruz, 19, is the suspect shooter for the tragedy that occured in a Florida high school on Wednesday. Cruz had been expelled from Douglas High due to disciplinary problems in a previous year. Cruz came back to his former school and is believed to have pulled the fire alarm, sending students out of the building. Cruz was waiting outside for the students to come out so he could start shooting. Cruz followed other students back into the building. Inside the building, he targeted students and faculty who were huddled in classrooms. He then blended in with the students exiting the building and got away.  He was later arrested in the nearby neighborhood of Coral Springs later that day.

Cruz killed 17 students and adults, making this shooting one of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. Cruz was identified by school security cameras and he was arrested later that day. His first court appearance was in the afternoon on Thursday, February 15. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will be closed for the rest of the week.