At least one confirmed dead and up to 50 hurt after gunman opens fire in Florida high school
Police cars are seen in Coral Springs, Florida, U.S. February 14, 2018 in this image obtained from social media.
Miami: The shooter who opened fire at a high school in Florida is now in custody, according to officials, after reportedly leaving several dead and between 20 and 50 people injured.
Florida senator Bill Nelson told NBC News there were a ‘number of fatalities’ following the incident.
The shooting took place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, a city in the southern part of the state between Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale.
Still locked in. I checked the local news and there is 20 victims. Long live Majory Stoneman Douglas High. pic.twitter.com/4kQMAlCBWt— Aj22000 (@TheCaptainAidan) February 14, 2018
The Margate Fire Department told CBS Miami there were between 20 and 50 victims. A fire department separately said at least one person had been killed. The extent of the injuries was unclear.
“AVOID THE AREA,” the Broward County sheriff’s office said on Twitter.
“There are reports of victims,” the sheriff’s office said. “Shooter still at large.”
Television images showed students being led out of the school by heavily armed police officers and an armoured vehicle filled with a SWAT team arriving at the scene.
One injured victim was seen being placed into an ambulance on a stretcher.
Police officers in helmets, bulletproof vests and armed with automatic weapons could be seen stationed at several points around the school.
DEVELOPING: A student inside the school tells @CBSMiami they are hearing there could be up to 20 people injured. This is a developing situation #StonemanShooting pic.twitter.com/U4frESlZ5H— Vladimir Duthiers (@vladduthiersCBS) February 14, 2018
#BSO is working a developing incident regarding a report of active shooter located at 5901 Pine Island Rd, Parkland. Here’s what we know so far: deputies are responding to reports of a shooting at Stoneman Douglas High. There are reports of victims. PIO will be on scene 3:15pm.— Broward Sheriff (@browardsheriff) February 14, 2018
Avoid the area of Stoneman Douglas HS. #BSO is currently working a developing incident regarding a report of active shooter.— Broward Sheriff (@browardsheriff) February 14, 2018
Follow @browardsheriff for latest info on the #stonemanshooting. Shooter still at large.— Broward Sheriff (@browardsheriff) February 14, 2018
“What happened was that the fire bell rang and we all thought it was a drill because we had already had a fire drill,” an unidentified student told WSVN 7 News.
“We thought it’s another drill so we didn’t take it seriously and then we heard pops from the other side of the school,” the student said.
Police from neighbouring Coral Springs advised teachers and students in the building to “remain barricaded inside until police reach you.
A local television reporter he had been in touch via text message with one female student who told him she had taken refuge in a closet with a number of classmates.
The teen told the reporter that she had heard a noise that “sounded like a bomb,” and a drama teacher had then told the pupils to huddle inside the closet.
“Everyone inside is very scared, it’s very warm,” the student was quoted as saying.
No child should ‘feel unsafe’
“My prayers and condolences to the families of the victims of the terrible Florida shooting,” President Donald Trump said on Twitter.
“No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school.”
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, part of the Broward County public school district, has nearly 3,000 students, according to 2014 figures.
The shooting, one of several since the start of the year, will once again throw the spotlight on America’s epidemic of gun violence and the ready accessibility of weapons, with 33,000 gun-related deaths annually.
Since January 2013, “there have been at least 283 school shootings across the country – which averages out to one school shooting a week,” according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit group that advocates for gun control.
Since the 2012 massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 children and six adults were shot dead, warning procedures and emergency drills have multiplied at US schools.
The goal is to teach school children how to react to a shooter who opens fire at random.