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Source: www.heraldsun.com/news/local/c…
Months of talk, rumor and gossip turned to action this weekend when a Confederate battle flag rose above Orange County.
The mammoth flag flies high over U.S. 70 – a well-traveled highway through this liberal county, home to UNC-Chapel Hill, 10 yoga studios, three Weaver Street Market natural food stores and an alpaca farm.
Whether the flag will be allowed to remain may be determined by the Orange County Board of Commissioners. The board is set to hear the public's comments regarding proposed changes to sign rules May 15 at the Southern Human Services Center at 2501 Homestead Road in Chapel Hill.
The amendment to the unified development ordinance could prohibit flags over 24 square feet, flagpoles over 24 feet in height or flagpoles taller than a property owner's main roof.
Additionally, flagpoles on residential property might be required to be set back at least 50 feet from property lines in Orange County.
County Attorney John Roberts has urged county leaders to approach the issue carefully. Rules that address the content of a flag or single out a particular flag could lead to a lawsuit.
A change would not immediately affect existing flags, Roberts has said, but those flags would have to comply with the rules later.
"The UDO amendment process being undertaken by the county will ensure that residents' First Amendment protections are upheld while addressing the concerns of many in the community regarding our county continuing to be a welcoming and inclusive place for all people," Hillsborough Town Commissioner Matt Hughes said Sunday.
The flag now flying is roughly 100 yards to the east, down U.S. 70, from the Division of Motor Vehicles office at 1201 Cornelius St. in Hillsborough.
The battle flag of the Confederate States of America looked brand new Sunday in a morning breeze, its red, white and blue colors bright and unstained by wear.
Some drivers slowed as they passed it. Two turned around to take second and third glances.
“It's up, it's flying, it's on private property, legal permit, and we followed all rules and regulations. Simple as that," the group Alamance County Taking Back Alamance County (ACTBAC NC) said in a statement.
The flag can be seen from vehicles traveling eastward, while still west of the flag's placement. A thin patch of trees partially blocks the Confederate battle flag from view of drivers approaching it from the east.
An ACTBAC NC Facebook post on Saturday night indicated that the flag was raised earlier that day.
Unlike the Confederate battle flags that the N.C. Sons of Confederate Veterans said they planned to raise across all 100 North Carolina counties earlier this year, the flag on U.S. 70 does not measure 30 feet in dimension.
ACTBAC NC wrote, “No it is only 20 X 20."
“A property owner has the right to fly whatever flag on his own property as he pleases. There are no flag pole height restrictions in the Orange County code of ordinance. Specifically related to flag poles or flags,” ACTBAC NC wrote.
The Orange County Schools banned the Confederate battle flag and other divisive symbols in its dress code last summer after months of debate and the deadly clash between Southern Nationalists and counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The local push was initiated by an Orange High mother after she kept seeing a Confederate battle flag in a truck at the school as she dropped her daughter off.
On Sunday, another mother, Robbyn “Yaya” Ellison, said she felt sick when she spotted the flag over the horizon over the weekend.
Ellison, who is African-American, corresponded via text message.
“Driving home from Mebane after a beautiful day, car was filled with my children of all races,” she wrote. “We laughed and danced and talked about all the beautiful spring sights.
“Until we rode up on something that flew high like a kite,” Ellison wrote.
The closer the car neared the flag, the quieter its passengers grew.
“It’s currently being flown high in our town honored and protected by outdated lies,” she wrote. “I couldn’t contain my anger as I drove by, feeling sick.”
Ellison moved to Hillsborough eight years ago because it “boasted” about being an open-minded and liberal place to live.
But Ellison said, years of “racism against [her]” and the sight of the Confederate battle flag made her momentarily doubt whether she and her family would remain in Hillsborough.
Until, a change of heart occurred.
“This flag like the countless racist statutes will one day come down,” Ellison wrote. “I know one day my family, friends and countless others will be even prouder to live in this small beautiful town!!!”
The Orange County Human Relations Commission will hold a community conversation about proposed changes in local rules for flags and flagpoles at 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 30, at the Whitted Building, 300 W. Tryon St. in Hillsborough.
Colin Warren-Hicks: 919-419-6636, @CWarrenHicks
Months of talk, rumor and gossip turned to action this weekend when a Confederate battle flag rose above Orange County.
The mammoth flag flies high over U.S. 70 – a well-traveled highway through this liberal county, home to UNC-Chapel Hill, 10 yoga studios, three Weaver Street Market natural food stores and an alpaca farm.
Whether the flag will be allowed to remain may be determined by the Orange County Board of Commissioners. The board is set to hear the public's comments regarding proposed changes to sign rules May 15 at the Southern Human Services Center at 2501 Homestead Road in Chapel Hill.
The amendment to the unified development ordinance could prohibit flags over 24 square feet, flagpoles over 24 feet in height or flagpoles taller than a property owner's main roof.
Additionally, flagpoles on residential property might be required to be set back at least 50 feet from property lines in Orange County.
County Attorney John Roberts has urged county leaders to approach the issue carefully. Rules that address the content of a flag or single out a particular flag could lead to a lawsuit.
A change would not immediately affect existing flags, Roberts has said, but those flags would have to comply with the rules later.
"The UDO amendment process being undertaken by the county will ensure that residents' First Amendment protections are upheld while addressing the concerns of many in the community regarding our county continuing to be a welcoming and inclusive place for all people," Hillsborough Town Commissioner Matt Hughes said Sunday.
The flag now flying is roughly 100 yards to the east, down U.S. 70, from the Division of Motor Vehicles office at 1201 Cornelius St. in Hillsborough.
The battle flag of the Confederate States of America looked brand new Sunday in a morning breeze, its red, white and blue colors bright and unstained by wear.
Some drivers slowed as they passed it. Two turned around to take second and third glances.
“It's up, it's flying, it's on private property, legal permit, and we followed all rules and regulations. Simple as that," the group Alamance County Taking Back Alamance County (ACTBAC NC) said in a statement.
The flag can be seen from vehicles traveling eastward, while still west of the flag's placement. A thin patch of trees partially blocks the Confederate battle flag from view of drivers approaching it from the east.
An ACTBAC NC Facebook post on Saturday night indicated that the flag was raised earlier that day.
Unlike the Confederate battle flags that the N.C. Sons of Confederate Veterans said they planned to raise across all 100 North Carolina counties earlier this year, the flag on U.S. 70 does not measure 30 feet in dimension.
ACTBAC NC wrote, “No it is only 20 X 20."
“A property owner has the right to fly whatever flag on his own property as he pleases. There are no flag pole height restrictions in the Orange County code of ordinance. Specifically related to flag poles or flags,” ACTBAC NC wrote.
The Orange County Schools banned the Confederate battle flag and other divisive symbols in its dress code last summer after months of debate and the deadly clash between Southern Nationalists and counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The local push was initiated by an Orange High mother after she kept seeing a Confederate battle flag in a truck at the school as she dropped her daughter off.
On Sunday, another mother, Robbyn “Yaya” Ellison, said she felt sick when she spotted the flag over the horizon over the weekend.
Ellison, who is African-American, corresponded via text message.
“Driving home from Mebane after a beautiful day, car was filled with my children of all races,” she wrote. “We laughed and danced and talked about all the beautiful spring sights.
“Until we rode up on something that flew high like a kite,” Ellison wrote.
The closer the car neared the flag, the quieter its passengers grew.
“It’s currently being flown high in our town honored and protected by outdated lies,” she wrote. “I couldn’t contain my anger as I drove by, feeling sick.”
Ellison moved to Hillsborough eight years ago because it “boasted” about being an open-minded and liberal place to live.
But Ellison said, years of “racism against [her]” and the sight of the Confederate battle flag made her momentarily doubt whether she and her family would remain in Hillsborough.
Until, a change of heart occurred.
“This flag like the countless racist statutes will one day come down,” Ellison wrote. “I know one day my family, friends and countless others will be even prouder to live in this small beautiful town!!!”
The Orange County Human Relations Commission will hold a community conversation about proposed changes in local rules for flags and flagpoles at 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 30, at the Whitted Building, 300 W. Tryon St. in Hillsborough.
Colin Warren-Hicks: 919-419-6636, @CWarrenHicks
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A shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, killed at least 17 people, stunning the town and much of the nation, as investigators raced to find a possible motive behind the bloodbath.
The suspect was identified as 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who'd been expelled for disciplinary reasons, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel confirmed during an evening news conference. Sen. Bill Nelson told Fox News that Cruz was wearing a gas mask and may have had smoke bombs during the rampage.
The school was under lockdown as police rushed to the scene during the afternoon.
Of the 17 people killed, 12 of them died in the school, two were killed outside, one died on the street and another two died at the hospital, Israel said. He added that 15 people were transported to the hospital.
The suspect carried an AR-15 rifle and had "countless magazines," the sheriff said.
According to CBS12, a Palm Beach County Sherriff's Department bomb squad was seen at a "mobile home park west of Lantana," which is 30 miles north of Parkland. Its reportedly connected to the high school shooting and authorities were "preparing to serve search warrant."
During an evening news conference, Israel said one of the deceased victims was a football coach at the high school although their name was not provided. Israel said a sheriff's deputy's son was also shot in the arm and was being treated for non-life threatening injuries.
"This is just absolutely pure evil," Governor Rick Scott said of the incident.
Cruz was seen wearing a maroon shirt as police led him off to a squad car. Video provided to WSVN appeared to show officers cuffing the suspect in the grass.
Police said the suspect, Nikolas Cruz, 19, was in custody.
Israel said earlier that the suspect was taken into custody "without incident" in an area off school grounds.
The high school scene was still being cleared, Israel added, to ensure no other threat remained. Parkland is about 50 miles north of Miami.
The suspect was brought to the Broward Sheriff's headquarters in a blue medical gown after being taken to the hospital.
The suspect was escorted by police in his hospital gown. (WSVN)
"It's a bad day," Sen. Nelson said.
"I have already said my prayers to give them comfort, but this is a tough time," he added. "We say 'enough is enough,' but it happens again."
After speaking with authorities, Senator Marco Rubio echoed that sentiment on Twitter saying, "It is clear attack was designed & executed to maximize loss of life."
"There are numerous fatalities," Broward County Superintendent Robert Runcie said. "It is a horrific situation. It is a horrible day for us."
He added that there was currently "no evidence" to suggest that there was "more than one shooter," according to WSVN.
Coral Springs Police asked the public to avoid the area of the high school, saying it was an active scene. A nearby middle school was also locked down as a precaution, officials said.
Officials also said students and teachers should remain barricaded in the school until they could be reached by police.
Video obtained by WSVN showed students throwing their hands in the air as an armed SWAT team entered the classroom while working to evacuate the school. A viewer, who sent it to the outlet, said she got it from her brother who was in the room:
Many students were seen walking or running from the area, the outlet said.
High school junior Noah Parness, 17, told The Associated Press that the fire alarm went off for the second time of the day about 2:30 p.m. He said he and others calmly went outside for a fire drill when he suddenly heard several pops.
"Everyone was kind of just standing there calm, and then we saw a bunch of teachers running down the stairway, and then everybody shifted and broke into a spring," Parness said. "I hopped a fence."
A person who claimed to be at the scene posted pictures to Twitter of students hiding beneath desks in one of the classrooms.
Caesar Figueroa, a parent of a 16-year-old student at the school, said he left work and headed to the area after receiving a phone call from his wife.
"My wife called me that there was an active shooter and the school was on lockdown," Figueroa told The AP. "I got on the road and saw helicopters, police with machine guns."
He said his daughter wasn't answering his phone calls but eventually texted him that she was hidden inside a closet at school with friends.
"She was in a classroom and she heard gunshots by the window," he said of the text. "She and her friends
ran into the closet."
Anxious family members watch a rescue vehicle pass by on Wednesday in Parkland, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Another parent, Beth Feingold, told The AP that her daughter sent a text at 2:32 p.m. saying "We're on code red. I'm fine." But she then sent another text soon afterward saying, "Mom, I'm so scared." The girl was later able to escape the school unharmed.
In a tweet from Broward Schools, the high school was dismissing students and the district's Special Investigative Unit, along with law enforcement, were on site.
A law enforcement officer talks with students after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
President Trump offered his "prayers and condolences to the families of the victims" of the school shooting on Twitter.
"No child, teacher, or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school," he said.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will be closed for the remainder of the week, Broward school district said in a tweet.
Westglades Middle School, which was on lockdown during the shooting, will be open Thursday with grief counselors on site to speak to students.
Gov. Scott said on Twitter that he'd spoken to the President, the Broward County Sheriff, as well as other officials, in regards to the incident and will "continue to receive briefings from law enforcement and issue updates."
The FBI is also in touch with local authorities and responding to the incident, Fox News confirmed. Sheriff Israel confirmed the agency's involvement and said they'll begin processing the "horrific scene."
Cruz preened with guns and knives on social media, bragged about shooting rats with his BB gun and got kicked out of school — in part because he had brought bullets in his backpack, according to one classmate. He was later expelled for still-undisclosed disciplinary reasons.
The portrait of Nikolas Cruz is a troubled teen with few friends and an obsessive interest in weapons as well as the Antifa movement as well as Social Communism and the former USSR. Administrators considered him enough of a potential threat that one teacher said a warning was emailed last year against allowing him on the campus with a backpack.
“All he would talk about is guns, knives and hunting,” said Joshua Charo, 16, a former classmate at the high school. “I can’t say I was shocked. From past experiences, he seemed like the kind of kid who would do something like this.”
Late Wednesday, detectives were digging into the past of the 19-year-old who had no previous arrests but had displayed plenty of troubling behavior before officers took him into custody after what ranks as the third-deadliest school shooting in American history.
“Our investigators began dissecting social media,” Broward Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters. “Some of the things that come to mind are very, very disturbing.”
Cruz, who was arrested soon after the shooting and taken to BSO headquarters, could face multiple state charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder.
At Stoneman Douglas High, he was part of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps during his freshman year, classmates said.
Charo said he spoke little and “was into some weird stuff.”
“He used to tell me he would shoot rats with his BB gun and he wanted this kind of gun, and how he liked to always shoot for practice,” Charo said.
Cruz’s Instagram page, identified by friends as his but which has since been removed from the popular site, underscored his love of weapons.
In the images, he sported dark bandanas over his face and beanies and baseball caps on his head. In one post, he wielded knives between his fingers as though they were claws. In another, he showed off a small black handgun.
“Pistol fun a-- f--k” he wrote in that post.
One post on his Instagram was for an online ad for a Mossberg Maverick 88 slug shotgun. Another post showed the definition of “Allahu Akbar” — an Arabic phrase meaning God is great. Federal authorities, however, said Wednesday that they did not believe the shooting was connected to terrorism.
Friends said he spoke little of his relatives. He and his brother were adopted when they were young by Lynda and Roger Cruz, of Long Island, New York, according to relatives. They raised the boys in Parkland.
Roger Cruz died over a decade ago and Lynda struggled with the boys, said Barbara Kumbatovich, a former sister-in-law. “She did the best she could. They were adopted and had some emotional issues,” she said.
Kumbatovich said she believed Nikolas Cruz was on medication to deal with his emotional fragility. “She was struggling with Nikolas the last couple years,” she said.
After his mother died, Cruz moved in with a friend, whose family in Broward took him in and even gave him his own bedroom. He worked at a dollar store and went to a school for at-risk youth, said Fort Lauderdale attorney Jim Lewis, who is representing the family.
Cruz had his AR-15, but the family asked that gun remain locked up in a cabinet, Lewis said. On Wednesday morning, Cruz slept in and gave only a cryptic reason why.
“He said, ‘It’s Valentine’s Day and I don’t go to school on Valentine’s Day,’” Lewis said.
The family had no idea what was going to happen, Lewis said. “Nobody saw this coming,” Lewis said. “They’re shocked.”
Charo, his former classmate, said Cruz had earlier been suspended from Stoneman Douglas High for fighting — and also because he was found with bullets in his backpack. Sheriff Israel said at a news conference that Cruz had been expelled for “disciplinary reasons” but he did not provide any details of what led to that action.
Math teacher Jim Gard remembered that the school administration earlier sent out an email warning teachers about Cruz.
“We were told last year that he wasn’t allowed on campus with a backpack on him,” said Gard, who had him in class. “There were problems with him last year threatening students, and I guess he was asked to leave campus.”
Drew Fairchild, a Stoneman Douglas High student stranded at the Marriott Heron Bay, where students were taken after the shooting, said he shared a class with Cruz during their freshman year.
“He used to have weird, random outbursts, cursing at teachers,” Fairchild said. “He was a troubled kid.”
The parent of another student agreed, saying his son, Daniel, had warned him about Cruz.
“If you were to pick one person you might predict in the future would shoot up a school or do this, it would be this kid,” said John Crescitelli, quoting his son.
Superintendent Robert Runcie told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that he did not know of any concerns raised about the student. “We received no warnings,” Runcie said. “Potentially there could have been signs out there. But we didn’t have any warning or phone calls or threats that were made.”
Runcie, citing federal student privacy laws, declined to discuss the suspect’s school record. But he confirmed that Cruz was still a Broward schools student, despite having been kicked out of Stoneman Douglas High.
Another former classmate, Nicholas Coke, called Cruz a “loner” who left the school and moved away a few months ago. Coke said he recalls an incident in middle school when Cruz kicked out a glass window and ran out of his classroom before getting caught.
“He had a lot of problems in middle school,” Coke said. “You never think anyone you know is going to do something like this.”
UPDATE:
It has recently been discovered that the FBI has been aware of Cruz's threat to the High School he formally attended since September of last year.
Last fall, a Mississippi bail bondsman and frequent YouTube blogger noticed an alarming comment left on one of his videos. "I'm going to be a professional school shooter," said a user named Nikolas Cruz.
The YouTuber, 36-year-old Ben Bennight, alerted the FBI, emailing a screenshot of the comment and calling the bureau's Mississippi field office. He also flagged the comment to YouTube, which removed it from the video.
Agents with the bureau's Mississippi field office got back to him "immediately," Bennight said, and conducted an in-person interview the following day, on Sept. 25.
"They came to my office the next morning and asked me if I knew anything about the person," Bennight told BuzzFeed News. "I didn't. They took a copy of the screenshot and that was the last I heard from them."
FBI agents contacted Bennight again Wednesday, after a 19-year-old named Nikolas Cruz allegedly opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, killing at least 17 people.
In the wake of the deadly shooting, questions have emerged over whether officials and acquaintances had missed warning signs about the alleged shooter, a former student who was expelled from the high school last year for disciplinary reasons.
Classmates, relatives, and neighbors have described Cruz as a troubled "loner" who often talked about guns and flaunted his obsession with weapons and the Soviet Revolution on his social media accounts. And Jim Gard, a math teacher at the school, told the Miami Herald that the teen had previously been identified as a potential threat to other students.
Though his name matches the YouTube user flagged in September, FBI officials would not say whether they have confirmed that the account belonged to Cruz.
But around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday — about 30 minutes after Cruz was taken into custody by police in Broward County — Special Agent Ryan Furr with the FBI's Miami field office called Bennight and left him a voicemail.
"I think we spoke with you in the past about a complaint that you made about someone making a comment on your YouTube channel," the agent said in the message, which Bennight provided to BuzzFeed News. "I just wanted to follow up with you on that and ask you a question with something that's come up, if you wouldn't mind giving me a ring."
A few hours later, Bennight said, FBI agents in Mississippi visited him again in person, pressing for more information about the YouTube user Nikolas Cruz.
"They asked me if I knew who he was. I didn't. I don't," Bennight said. "Then they left."
When contacted by BuzzFeed News, Furr declined to comment on the call and directed questions about the shooting to the FBI's public affairs office. The office did not respond to multiple calls or emails Wednesday night.
At a press conference Thursday morning, the FBI confirmed that it had received and looked into a tip about the "professional school shooter" comment on Bennight's YouTube channel, but could not uncover any details from the account.
"No other information was included in the comment, which would indicate a time, location, or true identity of the person who made the comment," special agent Robert Lasky told reporters. "The FBI conducted database reviews, checks, but was unable to further identify the person who made the comment."
The Nikolas Cruz YouTube account remained active until Wednesday evening. It has since been deleted, however, due to "multiple or severe violations of YouTube's policy on violence." YouTube did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' questions about the account.
On Wednesday night, Bennight vlogged about the experience on his YouTube channel.
"People leave pretty heinous comments on a pretty regular basis on this channel and I really didn't think anything of it," he told viewers. "But this comment said, 'I'm going to be a professional school shooter' and I knew I couldn't just ignore that."
The leader of a Southern Nationalist militia says Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz was a member of his group and participated in paramilitary drills in Tallahassee.
Jordan Jereb told The Associated Press on Thursday that his group, the Republic of Florida, a division of the League of the South, the leading Southern Nationalist organization in the South wants Florida to once again become its own Independent State separate from the United States. He said his group holds "spontaneous random demonstrations" and tries not to participate in the modern world.
Jereb said he didn't know Cruz personally and that "he acted on his own behalf of what he just did and he's solely responsible for what he just did."
He also said he had "trouble with a girl" and he believed the timing of the attack, carried out on Valentine's Day, wasn't a coincidence.
The League of the South denounced the hate filled attack and said that Cruz did not represent their values nor their principles as an organization or a movement.
Sources:
www.foxnews.com/us/2018/02/14/…
dailycaller.com/2018/02/14/pol…
www.wsoctv.com/news/breaking-n…
www.local10.com/news/parkland-…
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/artic…
www.miamiherald.com/news/local…
www.miamiherald.com/news/local…
twitter.com/WJXTvic/status/963…
wsvn.com/news/local/bso-17-dea…
Related stories:
The suspect was identified as 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who'd been expelled for disciplinary reasons, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel confirmed during an evening news conference. Sen. Bill Nelson told Fox News that Cruz was wearing a gas mask and may have had smoke bombs during the rampage.
The school was under lockdown as police rushed to the scene during the afternoon.
Of the 17 people killed, 12 of them died in the school, two were killed outside, one died on the street and another two died at the hospital, Israel said. He added that 15 people were transported to the hospital.
The suspect carried an AR-15 rifle and had "countless magazines," the sheriff said.
According to CBS12, a Palm Beach County Sherriff's Department bomb squad was seen at a "mobile home park west of Lantana," which is 30 miles north of Parkland. Its reportedly connected to the high school shooting and authorities were "preparing to serve search warrant."
During an evening news conference, Israel said one of the deceased victims was a football coach at the high school although their name was not provided. Israel said a sheriff's deputy's son was also shot in the arm and was being treated for non-life threatening injuries.
"This is just absolutely pure evil," Governor Rick Scott said of the incident.
Cruz was seen wearing a maroon shirt as police led him off to a squad car. Video provided to WSVN appeared to show officers cuffing the suspect in the grass.
Police said the suspect, Nikolas Cruz, 19, was in custody.
Israel said earlier that the suspect was taken into custody "without incident" in an area off school grounds.
The high school scene was still being cleared, Israel added, to ensure no other threat remained. Parkland is about 50 miles north of Miami.
The suspect was brought to the Broward Sheriff's headquarters in a blue medical gown after being taken to the hospital.
The suspect was escorted by police in his hospital gown. (WSVN)
"It's a bad day," Sen. Nelson said.
"I have already said my prayers to give them comfort, but this is a tough time," he added. "We say 'enough is enough,' but it happens again."
After speaking with authorities, Senator Marco Rubio echoed that sentiment on Twitter saying, "It is clear attack was designed & executed to maximize loss of life."
"There are numerous fatalities," Broward County Superintendent Robert Runcie said. "It is a horrific situation. It is a horrible day for us."
He added that there was currently "no evidence" to suggest that there was "more than one shooter," according to WSVN.
Coral Springs Police asked the public to avoid the area of the high school, saying it was an active scene. A nearby middle school was also locked down as a precaution, officials said.
Officials also said students and teachers should remain barricaded in the school until they could be reached by police.
Video obtained by WSVN showed students throwing their hands in the air as an armed SWAT team entered the classroom while working to evacuate the school. A viewer, who sent it to the outlet, said she got it from her brother who was in the room:
Many students were seen walking or running from the area, the outlet said.
High school junior Noah Parness, 17, told The Associated Press that the fire alarm went off for the second time of the day about 2:30 p.m. He said he and others calmly went outside for a fire drill when he suddenly heard several pops.
"Everyone was kind of just standing there calm, and then we saw a bunch of teachers running down the stairway, and then everybody shifted and broke into a spring," Parness said. "I hopped a fence."
A person who claimed to be at the scene posted pictures to Twitter of students hiding beneath desks in one of the classrooms.
Caesar Figueroa, a parent of a 16-year-old student at the school, said he left work and headed to the area after receiving a phone call from his wife.
"My wife called me that there was an active shooter and the school was on lockdown," Figueroa told The AP. "I got on the road and saw helicopters, police with machine guns."
He said his daughter wasn't answering his phone calls but eventually texted him that she was hidden inside a closet at school with friends.
"She was in a classroom and she heard gunshots by the window," he said of the text. "She and her friends
ran into the closet."
Anxious family members watch a rescue vehicle pass by on Wednesday in Parkland, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Another parent, Beth Feingold, told The AP that her daughter sent a text at 2:32 p.m. saying "We're on code red. I'm fine." But she then sent another text soon afterward saying, "Mom, I'm so scared." The girl was later able to escape the school unharmed.
In a tweet from Broward Schools, the high school was dismissing students and the district's Special Investigative Unit, along with law enforcement, were on site.
A law enforcement officer talks with students after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
President Trump offered his "prayers and condolences to the families of the victims" of the school shooting on Twitter.
"No child, teacher, or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school," he said.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will be closed for the remainder of the week, Broward school district said in a tweet.
Westglades Middle School, which was on lockdown during the shooting, will be open Thursday with grief counselors on site to speak to students.
Gov. Scott said on Twitter that he'd spoken to the President, the Broward County Sheriff, as well as other officials, in regards to the incident and will "continue to receive briefings from law enforcement and issue updates."
The FBI is also in touch with local authorities and responding to the incident, Fox News confirmed. Sheriff Israel confirmed the agency's involvement and said they'll begin processing the "horrific scene."
Cruz preened with guns and knives on social media, bragged about shooting rats with his BB gun and got kicked out of school — in part because he had brought bullets in his backpack, according to one classmate. He was later expelled for still-undisclosed disciplinary reasons.
The portrait of Nikolas Cruz is a troubled teen with few friends and an obsessive interest in weapons as well as the Antifa movement as well as Social Communism and the former USSR. Administrators considered him enough of a potential threat that one teacher said a warning was emailed last year against allowing him on the campus with a backpack.
“All he would talk about is guns, knives and hunting,” said Joshua Charo, 16, a former classmate at the high school. “I can’t say I was shocked. From past experiences, he seemed like the kind of kid who would do something like this.”
Late Wednesday, detectives were digging into the past of the 19-year-old who had no previous arrests but had displayed plenty of troubling behavior before officers took him into custody after what ranks as the third-deadliest school shooting in American history.
“Our investigators began dissecting social media,” Broward Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters. “Some of the things that come to mind are very, very disturbing.”
Cruz, who was arrested soon after the shooting and taken to BSO headquarters, could face multiple state charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder.
At Stoneman Douglas High, he was part of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps during his freshman year, classmates said.
Charo said he spoke little and “was into some weird stuff.”
“He used to tell me he would shoot rats with his BB gun and he wanted this kind of gun, and how he liked to always shoot for practice,” Charo said.
Cruz’s Instagram page, identified by friends as his but which has since been removed from the popular site, underscored his love of weapons.
In the images, he sported dark bandanas over his face and beanies and baseball caps on his head. In one post, he wielded knives between his fingers as though they were claws. In another, he showed off a small black handgun.
“Pistol fun a-- f--k” he wrote in that post.
One post on his Instagram was for an online ad for a Mossberg Maverick 88 slug shotgun. Another post showed the definition of “Allahu Akbar” — an Arabic phrase meaning God is great. Federal authorities, however, said Wednesday that they did not believe the shooting was connected to terrorism.
Friends said he spoke little of his relatives. He and his brother were adopted when they were young by Lynda and Roger Cruz, of Long Island, New York, according to relatives. They raised the boys in Parkland.
Roger Cruz died over a decade ago and Lynda struggled with the boys, said Barbara Kumbatovich, a former sister-in-law. “She did the best she could. They were adopted and had some emotional issues,” she said.
Kumbatovich said she believed Nikolas Cruz was on medication to deal with his emotional fragility. “She was struggling with Nikolas the last couple years,” she said.
After his mother died, Cruz moved in with a friend, whose family in Broward took him in and even gave him his own bedroom. He worked at a dollar store and went to a school for at-risk youth, said Fort Lauderdale attorney Jim Lewis, who is representing the family.
Cruz had his AR-15, but the family asked that gun remain locked up in a cabinet, Lewis said. On Wednesday morning, Cruz slept in and gave only a cryptic reason why.
“He said, ‘It’s Valentine’s Day and I don’t go to school on Valentine’s Day,’” Lewis said.
The family had no idea what was going to happen, Lewis said. “Nobody saw this coming,” Lewis said. “They’re shocked.”
Charo, his former classmate, said Cruz had earlier been suspended from Stoneman Douglas High for fighting — and also because he was found with bullets in his backpack. Sheriff Israel said at a news conference that Cruz had been expelled for “disciplinary reasons” but he did not provide any details of what led to that action.
Math teacher Jim Gard remembered that the school administration earlier sent out an email warning teachers about Cruz.
“We were told last year that he wasn’t allowed on campus with a backpack on him,” said Gard, who had him in class. “There were problems with him last year threatening students, and I guess he was asked to leave campus.”
Drew Fairchild, a Stoneman Douglas High student stranded at the Marriott Heron Bay, where students were taken after the shooting, said he shared a class with Cruz during their freshman year.
“He used to have weird, random outbursts, cursing at teachers,” Fairchild said. “He was a troubled kid.”
The parent of another student agreed, saying his son, Daniel, had warned him about Cruz.
“If you were to pick one person you might predict in the future would shoot up a school or do this, it would be this kid,” said John Crescitelli, quoting his son.
Superintendent Robert Runcie told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that he did not know of any concerns raised about the student. “We received no warnings,” Runcie said. “Potentially there could have been signs out there. But we didn’t have any warning or phone calls or threats that were made.”
Runcie, citing federal student privacy laws, declined to discuss the suspect’s school record. But he confirmed that Cruz was still a Broward schools student, despite having been kicked out of Stoneman Douglas High.
Another former classmate, Nicholas Coke, called Cruz a “loner” who left the school and moved away a few months ago. Coke said he recalls an incident in middle school when Cruz kicked out a glass window and ran out of his classroom before getting caught.
“He had a lot of problems in middle school,” Coke said. “You never think anyone you know is going to do something like this.”
UPDATE:
It has recently been discovered that the FBI has been aware of Cruz's threat to the High School he formally attended since September of last year.
Last fall, a Mississippi bail bondsman and frequent YouTube blogger noticed an alarming comment left on one of his videos. "I'm going to be a professional school shooter," said a user named Nikolas Cruz.
The YouTuber, 36-year-old Ben Bennight, alerted the FBI, emailing a screenshot of the comment and calling the bureau's Mississippi field office. He also flagged the comment to YouTube, which removed it from the video.
Agents with the bureau's Mississippi field office got back to him "immediately," Bennight said, and conducted an in-person interview the following day, on Sept. 25.
"They came to my office the next morning and asked me if I knew anything about the person," Bennight told BuzzFeed News. "I didn't. They took a copy of the screenshot and that was the last I heard from them."
FBI agents contacted Bennight again Wednesday, after a 19-year-old named Nikolas Cruz allegedly opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, killing at least 17 people.
In the wake of the deadly shooting, questions have emerged over whether officials and acquaintances had missed warning signs about the alleged shooter, a former student who was expelled from the high school last year for disciplinary reasons.
Classmates, relatives, and neighbors have described Cruz as a troubled "loner" who often talked about guns and flaunted his obsession with weapons and the Soviet Revolution on his social media accounts. And Jim Gard, a math teacher at the school, told the Miami Herald that the teen had previously been identified as a potential threat to other students.
Though his name matches the YouTube user flagged in September, FBI officials would not say whether they have confirmed that the account belonged to Cruz.
But around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday — about 30 minutes after Cruz was taken into custody by police in Broward County — Special Agent Ryan Furr with the FBI's Miami field office called Bennight and left him a voicemail.
"I think we spoke with you in the past about a complaint that you made about someone making a comment on your YouTube channel," the agent said in the message, which Bennight provided to BuzzFeed News. "I just wanted to follow up with you on that and ask you a question with something that's come up, if you wouldn't mind giving me a ring."
A few hours later, Bennight said, FBI agents in Mississippi visited him again in person, pressing for more information about the YouTube user Nikolas Cruz.
"They asked me if I knew who he was. I didn't. I don't," Bennight said. "Then they left."
When contacted by BuzzFeed News, Furr declined to comment on the call and directed questions about the shooting to the FBI's public affairs office. The office did not respond to multiple calls or emails Wednesday night.
At a press conference Thursday morning, the FBI confirmed that it had received and looked into a tip about the "professional school shooter" comment on Bennight's YouTube channel, but could not uncover any details from the account.
"No other information was included in the comment, which would indicate a time, location, or true identity of the person who made the comment," special agent Robert Lasky told reporters. "The FBI conducted database reviews, checks, but was unable to further identify the person who made the comment."
The Nikolas Cruz YouTube account remained active until Wednesday evening. It has since been deleted, however, due to "multiple or severe violations of YouTube's policy on violence." YouTube did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' questions about the account.
On Wednesday night, Bennight vlogged about the experience on his YouTube channel.
"People leave pretty heinous comments on a pretty regular basis on this channel and I really didn't think anything of it," he told viewers. "But this comment said, 'I'm going to be a professional school shooter' and I knew I couldn't just ignore that."
The leader of a Southern Nationalist militia says Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz was a member of his group and participated in paramilitary drills in Tallahassee.
Jordan Jereb told The Associated Press on Thursday that his group, the Republic of Florida, a division of the League of the South, the leading Southern Nationalist organization in the South wants Florida to once again become its own Independent State separate from the United States. He said his group holds "spontaneous random demonstrations" and tries not to participate in the modern world.
Jereb said he didn't know Cruz personally and that "he acted on his own behalf of what he just did and he's solely responsible for what he just did."
He also said he had "trouble with a girl" and he believed the timing of the attack, carried out on Valentine's Day, wasn't a coincidence.
The League of the South denounced the hate filled attack and said that Cruz did not represent their values nor their principles as an organization or a movement.
Sources:
www.foxnews.com/us/2018/02/14/…
dailycaller.com/2018/02/14/pol…
www.wsoctv.com/news/breaking-n…
www.local10.com/news/parkland-…
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/artic…
www.miamiherald.com/news/local…
www.miamiherald.com/news/local…
twitter.com/WJXTvic/status/963…
wsvn.com/news/local/bso-17-dea…
Related stories:
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Source: blavity.com/the-sons-of-confed…
A 20-by-30-foot Confederate States Army of Tennessee flag was recently erected, along Interstate 40 in North Carolina, The News & Observer reports.
This is the second such flag raised along I-40, and the Sons of Confederate Veterans say there are more to come. The group plans to erect large flags of the Confederacy in every single North Carolina county along the interstate highway.
The flag was placed on the property belonging to a group member Smitty Smith, who said the new Confederate initiative was a response to the removal of Confederate monuments.
"We said before, when they take down our monuments, we put up flags," Smith told Spectrum News.
Smith asserted his actions have nothing to do with race, but rather his allegiance to the CSA is more about preserving white history.
“Its our heritage, our ancestors," he noted. "There's not anything racist about it.”
Smith argues that the Civil War had absolutely nothing to do with slavery, and instead, the war was fought over taxes. Local resident, Stephanie Comfort echoed his sentiment.
“The focus [of the Civil War] was money," Comfort said. "Unfortunately, it was infused with the ugliness of prejudiceness. [sic] I understand American history, so it wouldn’t be offensive to me."
Smith called those who believe the Civil War was fought because of slavery "ignorant people.”
“Study the history of it," Smith said. "The only thing that makes that flag racist is ignorance. People do not know the history of the Confederacy.”
Smith maintains the flag is not racist, although he did say it was specifically raised to honor former KKK leader and CSA army general Nathan Bedford Forrest, Morganton reports.
Smith pointed out that his new, giant Confederate flag lacks a canter star in homage to Forrest, who tore the star out of his battle flag in an effort to strike fear in the hearts of his opponents.
“All we want to do, just like Robert E. Lee said, is to be left alone,” Smith said. “We don’t go out here and tear down Martin Luther King statues. I think Martin Luther King was a great man.”
Comfort added that she has high hopes for the flag. "I think it will put Morganton on the map and it [will] go viral.”
A 20-by-30-foot Confederate States Army of Tennessee flag was recently erected, along Interstate 40 in North Carolina, The News & Observer reports.
This is the second such flag raised along I-40, and the Sons of Confederate Veterans say there are more to come. The group plans to erect large flags of the Confederacy in every single North Carolina county along the interstate highway.
The flag was placed on the property belonging to a group member Smitty Smith, who said the new Confederate initiative was a response to the removal of Confederate monuments.
"We said before, when they take down our monuments, we put up flags," Smith told Spectrum News.
Smith asserted his actions have nothing to do with race, but rather his allegiance to the CSA is more about preserving white history.
“Its our heritage, our ancestors," he noted. "There's not anything racist about it.”
Smith argues that the Civil War had absolutely nothing to do with slavery, and instead, the war was fought over taxes. Local resident, Stephanie Comfort echoed his sentiment.
“The focus [of the Civil War] was money," Comfort said. "Unfortunately, it was infused with the ugliness of prejudiceness. [sic] I understand American history, so it wouldn’t be offensive to me."
Smith called those who believe the Civil War was fought because of slavery "ignorant people.”
“Study the history of it," Smith said. "The only thing that makes that flag racist is ignorance. People do not know the history of the Confederacy.”
Smith maintains the flag is not racist, although he did say it was specifically raised to honor former KKK leader and CSA army general Nathan Bedford Forrest, Morganton reports.
Smith pointed out that his new, giant Confederate flag lacks a canter star in homage to Forrest, who tore the star out of his battle flag in an effort to strike fear in the hearts of his opponents.
“All we want to do, just like Robert E. Lee said, is to be left alone,” Smith said. “We don’t go out here and tear down Martin Luther King statues. I think Martin Luther King was a great man.”
Comfort added that she has high hopes for the flag. "I think it will put Morganton on the map and it [will] go viral.”
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Source: www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/…
PHOTOS=> Sanctuary State Signs Pop Up on California Highways for the New Year: “Felons, Illegals and MS13 Welcome!” January 1, 2018 by Jim Hoft
Anonymous Street artists moved out to highways once again to ring in the new year by posting messages to the “Welcome to California” highway signs.
The signs were put up north of Lake Havasu, Arizona, Primm, Nevada and on Highway 95 in California and read
“OFFICIAL SANCTUARY STATE, Felons, Illegals and MS13 Welcome! Democrats Need The Votes!”
The highway signs are apparently commemorating California’s new Sanctuary State status.
NOTE: It is unclear who originated this action.
Here are a few more pictures of the highway signs:
One passerby took this…
UPDATE– The signs were NOT Photoshopped.
The #SanctuaryState sign on the 15 leaving Vegas, some tried to say it was Photoshop.
Will they say the same about this one on the 95? #KateSteinle pic.twitter.com/8ZKnDBtMXt
— TheFaction (@TheFaction1776) January 2, 2018
PHOTOS=> Sanctuary State Signs Pop Up on California Highways for the New Year: “Felons, Illegals and MS13 Welcome!” January 1, 2018 by Jim Hoft
Anonymous Street artists moved out to highways once again to ring in the new year by posting messages to the “Welcome to California” highway signs.
The signs were put up north of Lake Havasu, Arizona, Primm, Nevada and on Highway 95 in California and read
“OFFICIAL SANCTUARY STATE, Felons, Illegals and MS13 Welcome! Democrats Need The Votes!”
The highway signs are apparently commemorating California’s new Sanctuary State status.
NOTE: It is unclear who originated this action.
Here are a few more pictures of the highway signs:
One passerby took this…
UPDATE– The signs were NOT Photoshopped.
The #SanctuaryState sign on the 15 leaving Vegas, some tried to say it was Photoshop.
Will they say the same about this one on the 95? #KateSteinle pic.twitter.com/8ZKnDBtMXt
— TheFaction (@TheFaction1776) January 2, 2018
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