FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Accused Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz was ordered held without bond Thursday afternoon, after a brief hearing in which he stood silently with his head down in a heavily guarded Fort Lauderdale courtroom.
Before the hearing, an official with the public defender's office described Cruz as a "deeply troubled child who has endured a lot of emotional trauma in a short period of time."
Cruz was been a member of a small, Florida-based white supremacist group, participating in paramilitary training exercises in the Tallahassee area, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a group that monitors racist organizations.
The group, called Republic of Florida, describes itself as a "white civil rights organization fighting for white identitarian politics" and seeks to create a "white ethnostate" in Florida, according to the Anti-Defamation League's web site.
A member of Republic of Florida, Jordan Jereb, told the Anti-Defamation League on Thursday, that Cruz was associated with the group but said no one with the group told him to do anything like the school shooting, the nonprofit said in a blog post.
Chief Assistant Public Defender Gordon Weekes, whose agency's team is defending him, said Cruz was "shocked."
Cruz, who is on suicide watch, faces 17 counts of premeditated murder, Broward Sheriff Scott Israel said at a news conference.
The FBI was alerted last fall about a person named Nikolas Cruz who vowed online to become "a professional school shooter."
The name was the same as the 19-year-old accused of killing 17 people in a rampage Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
FBI special agent in charge Robert Lasky said the agency was alerted in September about a comment on a YouTube channel. A YouTube user, Ben Bennight, told CNN that he called the FBI, but nothing came of it.
President Donald Trump addressed the nation Thursday morning about the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, denouncing the "terrible violence, hatred and evil" of the attack and promising to visit Parkland.
"Our entire nation, with one heavy heart, is praying for the victims and their families," he said. He said he would be meeting with state officials later this month to talk about how to make schools safer.
He did not answer questions shouted at the end by CNN's Jim Acosta "Will you do something about guns?"
At a news conference Thursday morning, FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Lasky said agents are investigating a possible indication of the killer's plans posted a few months ago on YouTube.
"In September 2017, the FBI received information about a comment made on a YouTube channel. The comment said, 'I'm going to be a professional school shooter,'" he said. "No other information was included in the comment which would indicate a particular time, location, or the true identity of the person who posted the comment. The FBI conducted database reviews and other checks, but was unable to further identify the person who posted the comment."
Pope Francis issued a statement on the shooting.
"His Holiness Pope Francis was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic shooting that took place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland," says a statement issued through the Archdiocese of Miami. "Assuring all those affected by this devastating attack of his spiritual closeness, he prays that Almighty God may grant eternal rest to the dead and healing and consolation to the wounded and those who grieve."
Gov. Rick Scott, speaking at the same news conference as local officials, said he planned to meet with legislative leaders next week to discuss bills to make schools safe and keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.
Shortly before 5:45 a.m. Thursday, the young man accused in the shooting that left 17 people dead was escorted into Broward County's Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale. Cruz was surrounded by Broward Sheriff's deputies who walked him inside the facility.
Several false copycat incidents were reported at local schools Thursday, the sheriff said. He warned that all will be taken seriously and investigated, with the perpetrators prosecuted to the fullest extent for causing such a waste of law enforcement resources. A deputy accidentally fired a shot and injured himself in the leg Thursday while investigating an unfounded report of a shooting at North Broward Preparatory School in Coconut Creek.
Trump tweeted about the suspect Thursday morning, writing, "So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!"
Some 15 hours earlier, the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook erupted after Cruz arrived at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in an Uber car. A Uber company spokeswoman said it is working with law enforcement and declined to say more, including whether Cruz was alone, or to describe the exact pick up or drop off points.
Expelled from the school over disciplinary problems, Cruz is accused of squeezing off shot after shot from an AR-15 rifle as students took cover under desks, fire alarms blared and teachers barricaded classrooms. By the time it was over Wednesday, 17 people were dead or dying, and 16 were wounded.
The AR-15 used in the mass shooting was legally bought by Cruz, attorney Jim Lewis told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Cruz already owned the gun when he moved in with his friend's family in northwest Broward around Thanksgiving, Lewis said. "It was his gun," Lewis said. "The family made him keep it in a locked gun cabinet in the house but he had a key."
The family did not see him shooting the AR-15 but did see him shooting pellet guns, Lewis said.
Cruz was arrested off campus and was taken to Broward Sheriff's Office headquarters in Fort Lauderdale. Although some students described Cruz as a normal teenager, others and some of his neighbors called him strange, troubled and depressed.
A firearms enthusiast whose adoptive mother died last November, Cruz talked about shooting lizards, squirrels and frogs, said Trevor Hart, who knew him from Spanish class and said he seemed "a little off." Police were called to his house numerous times, said a former neighbor, Shelby Speno, and he was seen shooting at a neighbor's chickens.
"He wore a hoodie and always had his head down," said Janine Kartiganer, a former neighbor. "He looked depressed."
Panicked parents streamed to this affluent section of northwest Broward County on Wednesday afternoon, as news helicopters broadcast the incident live, police officers crouched behind cars with guns drawn and students congregated on streets, many crying, hugging and calling friends and family.
In a blurry Snapchat video from inside the school, a man yelled, "Oh, my God," as the pop-pop, pop-pop of gunshots rang out and students screamed.
Israel said students and adults were killed, with two shot outside the school, one in the street, 12 inside the school and two dying from their wounds at the hospital. This was the worst school shooting since 26 children and adults were shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012.
Investigators have begun analyzing Cruz's social media accounts, which the sheriff said contained material that was "very, very disturbing."
Coconut Creek police arrested him in a nearby neighborhood in Coral Springs, the Sheriff's Office said.
Wearing a red shirt, black pants and black boots, Cruz was placed on a gurney.
He was showing signs of labored breathing. So at 4:47 p.m., he was wheeled into Broward Health North hospital in Deerfield Beach. Later he was taken from the hospital to Broward Sheriff's Office headquarters in Fort Lauderdale.
"We just pray for this city, pray for this school, the parents, the folks that lost their lives," Israel said. "It's a horrific, horrific day."
Among those shot was the school's athletic director, Chris Hixon, according to the school's assistant athletic director Marilyn Rule.
Seventeen victims were taken to four area hospitals, and two of those victims died at the hospital.
Seven victims were being treated at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, Dr. Benny Menendez told a crowd of reporters. Two were in critical condition and five were stable.
"We do drills and when this happens we're ready," Menendez said. "We practice for this."
The school, located in a well-off, low-crime neighborhood near the Everglades, will be closed for the rest of the week.
