At least 2 killed in Broward County School shooting; shooter in custody
PARKLAND - The Broward County Sheriff's Office says a suspected shooter is in custody after gunfire sent students scrambling to school exits, caused terrified parents to try and contact their children and reports of multiple casualties.
Gunfire erupted near the end of the school day Wednesday afternoon at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
The suspected shooter was taken into custody, then put into an ambulance and taken to a hospital. Sheriff Scott Israel said the shooter was believed to be a former student at the school. He was taken into custody without incident, Israel said. The Associated Press said the suspect was 18.
The Sheriff's Office said at least 14 people were taken to hospitals. Citing sources, CNN says there are two fatalities.
Israel said shots were fired both inside and outside the school.
He added that efforts were being made to reunite parents with their students.
"It's catastrophic. There really are no words," Israel said
At 4:11 p.m., the Broward County Sheriff's Office posted on Twitter that the shooter was in custody. Its first tweet about the shooting was at 2:53 p.m.
Television video showed students running from campus with their hands behind their heads. A police officer waved the students on, urging them to quickly evacuate. The students made their way out past helmeted police in camouflage with weapons drawn.
Ambulances converged on the scene as emergency workers appeared to be treating wounded people on the sidewalks.
Len Murray's 17-year-old son, a junior at the school, sent his parents a chilling text around 2:30pm: "Mom and Dad, there have been shots fired on campus at school. There are police sirens outside. I’m in the auditorium and the doors are locked."
A few minutes later, he texted again: "I'm fine."
The school is on Pine Island Road. Authorities are telling residents there to avoid the area of Stoneman Douglas High School.
Gov. Rick Scott has been briefed on the shooting, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has responded.
Broward County Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie called what happened a horrific siutation.
"It is a horrible day for us," Runcie said.
The high school is a sprawling complex set on a tract in the South Florida community of Parkland, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) north of downtown Miami. The school cancelled after-school activities Wednesday night.
It's only February, and there have already been at least four shootings at middle and high schools in the United States so far this year. That's according to CNN.
Parkland was actually voted Florida's safest city last year. That's according to an analysis by the Washington-based National Council for Home Safety and Security.
The group said the south Florida city, with a population of 31,507, had only seven reported violent crimes and 186 property crimes the previous year.
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