FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Nikolas Cruz left at least 180 rounds of ammunition _ inside magazines that bore Nazi swastika symbols _ at the scene of the Parkland school shooting.
Along with his AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, Cruz abandoned at least six magazines that each contained 30 bullets at the scene of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, according to two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"It could have been more than twice as bad if he had kept going," one source said.
The magazines of ammunition had swastikas scrawled or etched into them, the sources said.
Cruz fired more than 100 rounds, killing 17 and injuring 16. There have been reports that Cruz stopped firing because the rifle may have jammed.
But some gun experts have questioned whether that would have really stopped an experienced shooter who wanted to continue shooting.
"If that particular type of gun jams, an AR-15, it takes about one second to get it working again," said one law enforcement official. "If you know how to load and fire an AR-15, you would know how to clear that jam."
Witnesses, who were in the school building after the massacre, said the shooter tried to fire rounds through an upper-level window but the hurricane panes stopped the bullets.
State records obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel show that Cruz's mother had forced him to remove hate symbols from his backpack in the past.
His mother told investigators that she made her son remove the symbols, including a Nazi symbol and the words "I hate N------" that were drawn on his book bag.
