The leader of a white supremacist group claims the man who yesterday shot 17 people dead and wounded at least five others at a Florida high school was a member of his organisation.
Jordan Jereb, the self-styled leader of an militia which advocates for a white ethno-state, told The Associated Press that alleged shooter Nikolas Cruz had participated in the group’s armed drills before opening fire at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
However, Jereb claims not to have known Cruz personally, saying “he acted on his own behalf of what he just did and he’s solely responsible for what he just did.”
The revelation comes as local and federal investigators work to discover what lead the 19-year-old to murder many of his former schoolmates.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said Cruz had been expelled from the school for “disciplinary reasons,” but did not elaborate further. One teacher alleged Cruz had threatened students, and the school sent out an email to staff last year forbidding him from entering the campus with a backpack.
One student alleged Cruz had been in an altercation with the new boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend. Another said Cruz was prone to random, angry outbursts at teachers.
Others said he was obsessed with weaponry, and frequently posted troubling images on social media showing a small arsenal of firearms. The FBI said it had discovered YouTube comments from a ‘nikolas cruz’ who said they wanted to become a “professional school shooter,” but were unable to verify who posted the comment.
Cruz, an orphan, had been living with family friends at the time of the shooting. While the family was aware he owned an AR-15 rifle, they said they told him to keep it in safe – to which Cruz owned the key.
Attorney Jim Lewis, who is representing the family, said they were shocked at the shooting, and that “nobody saw this coming.”
