Florida shooting: 17 confirmed dead in 'horrific' attack on high school

Students who had been at school with suspected gunman Nikolas Cruz, 19, said “everyone predicted” he could “do something” like the tragedy that unfolded on Wednesday afternoon, and that some children had been scared of him.

Cruz had been expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, for disciplinary reasons, according to Broward county sheriff Scott Israel.

One student at the school, speaking to CNN but without disclosing his identity, said: “A lot of people were saying that it was going to be him. All the kids joked ... saying he was the one that screwed up at school, but it turns out everyone predicted it. That’s crazy.”

Guardian reporter Oliver Laughland has talked to students at the school about the suspect, who has been named by police as Nikolas Cruz:

Dakota Mutchler, a 17-year-old junior at the school, said he used to be friends with the suspect, but that Cruz started “progressively getting a little more weird, and I kind of cut off from him”.

Mutchler said Cruz posted about killing animals on social media and talked about guns and target practice.

“Everyone in the school that knew him speculated about him,” said Mutchler. “When someone’s expelled, you don’t really expect them to come back … If they’re expelled, they’re gone. But of course, he came back.”

Mutchler added that he stopped communicating with the suspect after “he started going after one of my friends and threatening her”.

Victoria Olvera, also a 17-year-old junior, said of the suspect: “At first, he was really nice.”

But later, she said: “He just changed. As far as I knew, he was like a future school shooter.”

We have an update on those who were taken to hospitals after the shooting.

Seventeen victims were taken to Broward Health medical center and Broward Health North.

Of those, two died in hospital. They are counted among the 17 dead.

Five remain in life-threatening condition on Wednesday night.

Ten remain in hospital with injuries that are not life-threatening.

The killer was also taken to hospital for treatment after his arrest, but was subsequently released into police custody.

Sheriff Scott Israel adds:

If a person is predisposed to commit such a horrific event … if a person is committed to committing great carnage … there’s not a lot law enforcement can do about it.

We have to be able to mitigate, we have to be able to respond quickly.

He says more money needs to go to treating mental health issues.

Israel says that, in his view, people with mental health illnesses should not be allowed to use, own or purchase a handgun.