Parkland shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz confessed to shooting students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, according to a recently released arrest report.
FULL COVERAGE: Parkland school shooting
The alleged confession, witness statements, and records about the suspect’s gun purchase are detailed in a seven-page court document following Cruz’s arrest.
Cruz is facing 17 counts of premeditated murder for the shooting Wednesday. A Broward County judge denied Cruz bond at a hearing Thursday afternoon.
“Cruz stated that he was the gunman who entered the school campus armed with an AR-15 and began shooting students that he saw in the hallways,” a Broward County Sheriff’s Office investigator wrote in the report.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives records show Cruz purchased the gun in Febrary 2017. He abandoned the weapon at the scene Wednesday and tried blending in with the crowd of frenzied students, the report states.
He told deputies he brought additional magazines to the school campus and hid them in a backpack.
Cruz was first spotted by an employee who recognized him as a “former troubled student,” an investigator wrote in the report. The employee radioed to another employee that Cruz was walking "purposefully" towards a school building.
Within a minute, the employee said he heard gunshots and called a “Code Red” emergency on campus.
An Uber driver reportedly told investigators they dropped Cruz off at the high school before the shooting.
Cruz had been living in Parkland with a family for the past few months, the report states. The homeowner said Cruz’s parents are both deceased.
Cruz is being held at the Broward County Jail.
Read the full probable cause affidavit below:
