New Images Released Of Parkland Mass Murderer Nikolas Cruz Stalking Schoolmates
Dec. 28 2018, Published 9:21 p.m. ET
New images showing Parkland, Florida, school shooter Nikolas Cruz stalking students in the halls of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School were released on Dec. 28 as part of a Sun-Sentinal investigation into the massacre. Gallery contains disturbing images.
Surveillance cameras captured Cruz, now 20, toting a Smith & Wesson MP-15 rifle through the school on Feb. 14, 2018.
The killer can be seen taking a defensive posture and aiming his rifle down a hallway, where he tells freshman Chris McKenna: “You'd better get out of here. Things are gonna start getting messy.”
The new images show the teen as he makes his way past doors, where students have barricaded themselves inside.
At one point, Cruz attempted to shoot out windows and mow down fleeing students and school staff, but glass designed to withstand hurricanes stopped his bullets.
“You could still smell the gunpowder. You could definitely smell blood,” Coral Springs Detective Mindy Mazzei said of the shooting. “There was stuff everywhere. There were books, there were folders. It just, it just looked chaotic.”
Cruz fled the scene after six minutes, leaving behind his rifle, phone and backpack. Police finally stormed the building 11 minutes after Cruz’s killing spree began.
In surveillance video footage, students can be seen packed inside a hallway after fire alarms began to ring. They quickly rushed into classrooms after shots were heard in another part of the school.
Investigators recovered 70 spent shell casings from the school’s first floor. Cruz, who killed 17 students and teachers and injured another 17, was arrested after the shootings and has pleaded not guilty to 17 counts of capital murder. He could be put to death if found guilty of the charges.
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