Student: Cruz said ‘get out of here’ before school shooting
By CURT ANDERSON, AP Legal Affairs Writer
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School told investigators he encountered shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz in a stairwell as he was loading his AR-15 rifle and was told, “you better get out of here,” according to police interview transcripts released Friday.
The student’s account is part of the prosecution’s case against Cruz, who is charged with 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the Valentine’s Day massacre in Parkland, Florida. The student, whose name was redacted, says he was on a bathroom break when he found Cruz pulling the rifle out of a bag.
He told authorities Cruz said this: “You better get out of here, something bad is about to happen. … And then he just, he told me to run. So I ran.”
The student, whose account has previously been described by authorities, said he saw the weapon clearly.
“It was an assault rifle. It was all black; it was long,” he told detectives.
Cruz, 19, has offered to plead guilty if the death penalty is waived but prosecutors have not agreed to that. Authorities say he confessed to the crime and previously prosecutors released cellphone videos Cruz recorded in which he describes in detail what he planned to do at the school that he had attended.
Another interview released Friday was with a Stoneman Douglas security monitor who was in the building just as Cruz entered. The monitor, whose name is also redacted but who school officials have identified as David Taylor, said he saw Cruz carrying the gun bag from about a 50-yard distance down a school hallway. He had been alerted to Cruz’s presence by another monitor, Andrew Medina, both of whom were well-acquainted with the troubled former student.
“And, uh, I believe he made eye contact with me. I looked at him and he immediately made a right turn into that far east stairwell,” Taylor told detectives.
He said he ran up to the second floor to try to intercept Cruz but did not see the teen. Then the gunshots started.
“I heard two shots and then a volley of a bunch of shots. Then I immediately took cover inside a custodial closet on the second floor,” Taylor said.
After about 10 minutes in the closet, Taylor said a police officer found him and led him outside.
“It felt like hours I was in that closet,” he said.
Taylor, like Medina an assistant baseball coach at Stoneman Douglas, told detectives that he knew Cruz well from his time at the school and had frequently taken him out of class for defiant behavior and being disrespectful to teachers.
“Not only me but all of our security personnel. I would say everybody. I would, yeah, because they’ve all been there long enough … I would say all the security personnel dealt with that kid,” he said.
The Broward County school district has reassigned both Medina and Taylor to other schools since the shooting.
___
Follow Curt Anderson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Miamicurt
Tobacco Free Florida Keys to Host Quarterly Partnership Meeting to Promote Tobacco-Free Policies in Monroe County
“Taylor, like Medina an assistant baseball coach at Stoneman Douglas, told detectives that he knew Cruz well from his time at the school and had frequently taken him out of class for defiant behavior and being disrespectful to teachers.””
Conveniently omitted from this story: “When you see something, tell someone!” Well, the school counsellors knew, the school administrators knew, even the Police knew Cruz was “trouble”.
Compounded by a coward school resource deputy at the scene who did nothing, He became a “monitor (like in that TV bank robbery commercial)” rather than a law enforcement officer whose sole job was student safety. Since Columbine, the LEO SOP was instant interdiction in a shooting incident but hey being a “monitor” is safer.
The progressives’ solution: restrict or ban “assault weapons” which by the new definition include 22s stocks with a pistol grip, 10 rd plus magazines and are “full semi-automatic (per a CNN report)”. What a wonderful plan!
John: Banning assault rifles sounds like a darned good place to start, although your definition is a littl whacky.
“although your definition is a littl whacky”
You are a little behind the times.
The Firearm Owners’ Protection Act of 1986 (FOPA) already regulates ‘assault weapons’ like the AK47 and M16. Requirements include a 200 dollar tax stamp and enough money to purchase such a firearm which are very limited.
Whacky, OK so the new progressive definition of an “assault weapon’ using the most recent example is Oregon (other states use the same definition) proposal called IP43 (BTW caliber is not specified):
The Oregon Ban on Certain Firearms and Magazines with More than a 10-Round Capacity, Initiative #43,
This initiative would ban certain firearms defined by the initiative as assault weapons and ammunition magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. Specifically, the initiative would prohibit the manufacture, import, sale, purchase, transfer, or possession of the following and make violation a Class B felony:
• any semiautomatic rifle with a detachable magazine and any of the following features:
o a grip, such as a pistol grip or thumbhole stock, designed to allow the operators trigger hand to be directly below the action of the rifle while firing rather than behind the firing action of the rifle as with most traditional hunting rifles;
o any grip or shroud that can be held by the non-trigger hand while firing;
o a flash suppressor or muzzle break/compensator or reduce recoil;
o a bayonet mount or grenade/flare launcher;
• any semiautomatic pistol or rifle with a fixed ammunition magazine with a capacity of more than 10 rounds;
• any semiautomatic rifle shorter than 30 inches;
• a semiautomatic pistol with one of the following:
o any secondary grip or barrel cover that can be held by the non-trigger hand while firing;
o a folding, telescoping, or thumbhole stock;
o the ability to accept an ammunition magazine in any other location than into the grip;
o a threaded barrel that can accept a silencer;
• any semiautomatic shotgun with any of the following features:
o a pistol or thumbhole grip combined with a folding or telescoping stock;
o a fixed ammunition magazine capable of holding more than 10 rounds;
o an ability to receive a detachable ammunition magazine;
o a revolving cylinder magazine
• any kit or combination of parts able to convert a firearm in any of the ways prohibited above.