Nikolas Cruz Might Have Tried to Create Vantage Point to Gun Down Students Below

Nikolas Cruz Might Have Tried to Create Vantage Point to Gun Down Students Below
Students are evacuated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during a shooting incident in a still image from video in Parkland, Florida, Feb. 14, 2018. (WSVN via Reuters)
Janita Kan
3/3/2018
Updated:
3/3/2018

Newly emerged photos appear to show that Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz might have attempted to shoot from a window on a higher floor in an effort to gun down more students fleeing below.

One of the photos shows what looks like multiple bullet holes on the inside of a third-floor teachers’ lounge window, reported Fox News, citing unnamed sources.

Law enforcement sources told Fox News that it appeared Cruz might have tried to create a sniper’s vantage point but his efforts were thwarted by hurricane-proof windows that could not be shattered.

An official briefed on the shooting told CBS4 News that Cruz had fired 16 rounds into the window. The suspect then attempted to reload but after changing magazine clips, the weapon was believed to be jammed forcing Cruz to abandon his gun and flee the building with the other students, according to unnamed sources.
Had Cruz succeeded in his efforts, the carnage would have been much more devastating, reported Fox News, citing another unnamed source.

“What you are looking at is the third-floor teachers’ lounge, which faces west, Cruz was trying to shoot those windows out from the inside, creating a perch so he could act like a sniper — little did he know, those windows are hurricane windows and they won’t shatter. Had he been able to get those shot out, who knows how many more people would’ve died, because he would’ve had sight to a wide-open courtyard where the other buildings funnel,' the source told the news station.

In a second photo, boxes of evidence appeared to be stacked in the school, some with biohazard labeling on them, according to Fox News.

“By the looks of it, the ones with orange biohazard are anything from that day in the school that has blood or bodily matter on them; the rest is probably anything that was left behind that was unclaimed or evidence from the school shooting,” a law enforcement source who reviewed the pictures told the news station.

Cruz, 19, is accused of open firing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14 which left 17 students and teachers dead. He has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.

Nikolas Cruz, facing 17 charges of premeditated murder in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, appears in court for a status hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. Feb. 19, 2018. (Reuters/Mike Stocker/Pool)
Nikolas Cruz, facing 17 charges of premeditated murder in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, appears in court for a status hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. Feb. 19, 2018. (Reuters/Mike Stocker/Pool)
The building on the school campus where 17 people were murdered is expected to be demolished. Florida lawmakers decided on Feb. 15 to provide the resources needed to demolish the building as it will be traumatic for students to have to return to it.
“This building has to come down,” Sen. Bill Galvano told the Miami Herald during a visit to the school.

“It will still be very difficult for students to return,” Galvano said. “But that particular building should be razed, and the memory of the perpetrator erased and a memorial honoring the victims and their families be put in its place.”

From NTD.tv
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