Florida teen charged with 17 murders legally bought AR-15

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Cruz was taken into custody without a fight about an hour after the shooting in a residential neighborhood about a mile away. He had multiple magazines of ammunition, authorities said.

“It’s catastrophic. There really are no words,” said Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.

The sheriff said 12 bodies were found inside the building, two others outside and another a short distance away from the school.

Sen. Bill Nelson told CNN that Cruz had pulled the fire alarm “so the kids would come pouring out of the classrooms into the hall.”

“And there the carnage began,” said Nelson, who said he was briefed by the FBI.

Frantic parents rushed to the school to find SWAT team members and ambulances surrounding the huge campus and emergency workers treating the wounded on sidewalks. Students who had taken shelter inside classrooms began leaving in a single-file line with their hands over their heads as officers urged them to evacuate quickly.

Hearing loud bangs as the shooter fired, many of the students hid under desks or in closets, and barricaded doors.