A nineteen-year-old is suspected of having opened fire at his former school in Parkland, Florida. It is the eighteenth school shooting in the United States since the beginning of 2018 — and it is only February.
17 people lost their lives in a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, in the United States. The suspect, detained by police, is nineteen-year-old Nikolas Cruz, a former student of the school who had been expelled for disciplinary reasons and who passed the checks required to purchase firearms. The shooting took place shortly before 3pm local time (9pm Italian time) on 14 February 2018, as students were about to go home at the end of the school day.
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Police believe the killer set off the fire alarm to draw potential victims out of the building, but since there had already been a drill that day, some thought it was a false alarm. While some students left the school, many who heard the gunshots went back to their classrooms to hide.
Students sent messages to their loved ones fearing for their lives, while others posted photos and videos of the moments during which the shooting took place. 12 people were killed inside the school — among them both young people and adults — three died nearby and two lost their lives in hospital. A further 15 people received medical treatment.
Teacher Jim Gard told the Miami Herald that Nikolas Cruz had threatened students in the past. His former classmates, indeed, were not surprised by what happened. "All he ever talked about were guns, knives and hunting," recalls Joshua Caro, a 16-year-old student who was in class with him. "I can't say I'm shocked. From past experience, he seemed like the type of person who would do something like this." Police are investigating Cruz's online activity and have discovered that on his Instagram account, which has since been removed, he posted photographs of himself with various types of weapons, while on YouTube he repeatedly posted comments of an extremely violent nature.
Teacher Melissa Falkowski told CNN that the school had been prepared for an event like this. "We did everything we were supposed to do. We had prepared for a situation like this, and the fact that despite that there are still so many victims is, at least to me, truly bewildering. I feel that today our government, and our country, have failed us, have failed our children and have not kept us safe."
United States president Donald Trump expressed his condolences to the families of the victims, writing on Twitter that "no child should ever feel unsafe in an American school." Connecticut senator Chris Murphy — whose state was the scene of the worst school shooting ever, that of Sandy Hook on 14 December 2012 — said that "this only happens in America. And it's not a coincidence, and it's not fate. It happens because we do nothing. We are responsible."
David Hogg, a survivor of the shooting, made an appeal to Donald Trump and legislators in front of CNN cameras: "Please, do something. Students are dying trying to get an education. This is not acceptable. We are children. You are the adults."
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Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas have no intention of staying silent; they are organising a march in Washington on 24 March (March for Our Lives) to demand that gun control laws be tightened. In the meantime, 17 members of the organisation Teens for Gun Reform lay down in front of the White House to commemorate the victims of the Parkland shooting, and dozens of young people joined the protest.
There have already been 18 shootings in American schools since the beginning of 2018. "Schools are structurally vulnerable environments because security measures are not implemented as they are in other public places, including airports," explains Gianluca Pastori, professor of History of Political Relations between North America and Europe at the Cattolica in Milan and researcher at the Istituto per gli studi di politica internazionale (Ispi). "Adolescents often harbour a certain resentment towards the institution, something that happens outside the United States too; school is a place that can generate frustration, which in turn can trigger violent reactions. It is no coincidence — and it appears to have happened again this time — that it is frequently students or former students who open fire. The vulnerability of the buildings, the distress experienced by young people and the easy access to firearms all mean that the number of shootings in schools is very high."
"The fact that Nikolas Cruz posted photos on Instagram showing him with weapons did not prevent him from purchasing them, since it does not constitute a crime and is therefore not considered an indicator of dangerousness," Pastori continues. "On the contrary, there has often been talk of fears that weapons might be sold for terrorist purposes, but in reality it is not terrorists who represent the real threat in this context." Only five states (California, Connecticut, Indiana, Oregon and Washington) have laws that allow family members or police to ask judges to temporarily revoke the right to own a firearm from people who display violent behaviour.
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting is among the ten worst in United States history. And to think that last year Parkland was named the safest city in Florida.
