Story behind the Florida school shooting

It's happened again, and we can't say we're completely surprised (which may be the saddest commentary of all). Seventeen children and adults were gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The carnage began after a fire alarm was pulled and students started leaving classrooms. That's when police say 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, a former student armed with an AR-15-style firearm, began shooting. He was arrested after reportedly trying to hide among fleeing students. It's at least the fourth school shooting this year and is among the top 10 deadliest shootings in modern US history. It happened in a place voted the safest city in Florida. These shootings are happening with depressing regularity. How long can we let this go on? It’s not a partisan issue. It’s a parenting issue. We worry about our kids, that they are not safe where we expect them to be. The next few days will almost certainly follow a predictable pattern. First, we will search for a motive. We will try to piece together as much as we can about the suspect. Lawmakers will offer thoughts and prayersand express sadness. Then, one side will talk about gun control. The other side will double down. Then, we'll go back to normal until the next school shooting. And the next. And the next.

This epidemic of mass slaughter, this scourge of school shooting after school shooting, it only happens here not because of coincidence, not because of bad luck, but as a consequence of our inaction. We are responsible for a level of mass atrocity that happens in this country with zero parallel anywhere else. Sen. Chris Murphy, speaking about the Florida shooting from the Senate floor. The Democrat represented Newtown, Connecticut, in Congress at the time of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary.