Florida shooter Nikolas Cruz calmly headed to McDonald’s and Subway minutes after slaughtering 17 people in school massacre
THE Florida school shooter casually headed to McDonald’s and Subway to celebrate after carrying out his massacre, it has emerged.
Nikolas Cruz, 19, slaughtered 17 people and injured dozens more in a bloody gun rampage at his former school in Parkland on Wednesday.
The teen then fled Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and went on the run for over an hour before being apprehended by cops.
And it has now emerged he spent that time calmly tucking into fast food at nearby branches of McDonald's and Subway.
The news came as police released more details about the gunman’s bloody rampage.
The teenager confessed to carrying out one of the deadliest school shootings in the US, according to a sheriff's department report.
What we know so far...
- Seventeen dead after gas mask-wearing gunman opened fire on students at school in Florida at 2.25pm (7.25pm GMT) on Valentine's Day
- Shooter Nikolas Cruz, 19, was former pupil of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland but expelled last year
- Teen shooter "surrendered quietly" and was arrested "without incident" in nearby town of Coral Springs before being taken into custody
- He posted chilling images of guns and knives on Instagram
- President Trump did not mention gun control in first address after the massacre
Cruz, who was living with family friends, was supposed to go to an adult education course but when the father woke him that morning, he reportedly said: "It's Valentine's Day. I don't go to school on Valentine's Day."
Attorney for the family, Jim Lewis, told : "They just blew it off. This is some 19-year-old that didn't want to get up and go to school that day, and (they) left it at that."
Instead, at 2.06pm he called an Uber and pulled up outside the high school - where he was expelled last year - 13 minutes later.
Carrying a black duffel bag and backpack, where he had concealed extra ammunition, he walked through the campus and pulled an AR-15 rifle out of his case at 2.21pm.
He began shooting into rooms 1215, 1216, 1214 before returning to the first two classrooms and then onto 1213 - all located on the first floor, according to Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.
Cruz then went up a set of stairs and shot a victim in room 1234, before heading up another set of stairs where he dropped his rifle and backpack containing the loaded magazines.
He ran back down the stairs, blending himself in among the fleeing students, and fled the building at 2.28pm where he ran towards the tennis courts, the officer said.
After the rampage, the suspect headed to a Wal-Mart and bought a drink at a Subway restaurant at about 2.50pm, according to the sheriff's report.
He then walked to a McDonald's, arriving at 3.01pm, where he waited for short period of time before leaving on foot.
Officers say he was walking down a residential street in the nearby town of Coral Springs 40 minutes later when he was arrested "without incident".
Arresting officer Michael Leonard said: "He looked like a typical high school student and for a quick moment I thought, 'Could this be the person? Is this who I need to stop?'"
He pulled over to confront him and the mass murderer "surrendered quietly", and was taken into custody at about 4pm.
Footage showed the moment police apprehended the suspect, pinning him to the ground and placing him in handcuffs.
In the wake of the attack, it emerged that Cruz - who worked at a dollar store - joined the school's Reserve Officer Training Corps programme where he completed a marksmanship course, according to .
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It's also emerged that Cruz had posted chilling images of guns and knives on Instagram, while students described him as a "volatile" teenager whose strange behaviour had ended friendships.
Cruz appeared in court wearing an orange jumpsuit with his hands cuffed at his waist on Thursday.
His attorney did not contest the order and had her arm around Cruz during the short appearance.
He was being held under a suicide watch, Executive Chief Public Defender Gordon Weekes told reporters.
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