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Florida school gunman was a former student banned from campus for threatening classmates

Police arresting a suspect at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after an active shooting. Image via Twitter.
Noor Al-Sibai
February 14, 2018

Nicolas Cruz, the suspect identified by police and media as the potential shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Wednesday, was banned from campus for threatening classmates.

The Miami Herald interviewed teachers and school officials about the 19-year-old former student, with the former saying the school's administration warned them about his behavior.

"We were told last year that he wasn’t allowed on campus with a backpack on him,” Jim Gard, a math teacher who taught Cruz last year, told the Herald. “There were problems with him last year threatening students, and I guess he was asked to leave campus."

The teacher recalled school administrators sending out "an e-mail warning teachers that the student had made threats against others in the past and that he should not be allowed on the campus with a backpack."

Local news station WSVN-7 also interviewed a student who said Cruz spoke about having and using guns.

The school system's superintendent said they had not received warning about the suspect.

"We received no warnings,” Superintendent Robert Runcie said outside the scene of the shooting. “Potentially there could have been signs out there. But we didn't have any warning or phone calls or threats that were made."

Initial reports say as many as 50 people were injured in the school shooting, and the death toll remains unknown," though Superintendent Runcie said there were "numerous fatalities."

Watch Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel discuss Cruz below:

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