The students could be seen if you looked closely holding valentines that they had received from their friends at school. The Broward CountySheriffs Office has identified the suspect as 19yearold nicolas cruz who was taken into custody about an hour after the shooting began. Officials believe he was armed with one semiautomatic ar15 style rifle and multiple ammunition magazines. Inside the school, depending on how close the classrooms were to the gunshots and some of this video started appearing on social media within minutes. There was panic, there was screaming. As teachers tried to follow security protocols and students ran to safety. Many of them barricaded themselves in closets and classrooms until hearing the allclear from arriving members of the local s. W. A. T. Teams. Earlier tonight officials, including governor rick scott of florida, held a News Conference on todays shooting. Near the end of the briefing, Broward County sheriff scott israel said if a person is committed to an act of violence, Law Enforcement can only do so much. If a person is predisposed to commit such a horrific event, like going to a school and shoot people, if a person is going to drive a truck into a crowded area, if a person is committed to committing great carnage, theres not anybody or not a lot Law Enforcement can do about it, or any entity can do about it. The only things we can do are train very hard. We have to train rigorously, and we do. We have to be able to mitigate. We have to be able to respond quickly so we can lessen the loss of lives. For the very latest, we want to go to nbc news correspondent tammy leitner, reporting all day from parkland, florida. Reporter brian, its been about eight hours since this shooting happened. And we are still seeing parents and students coming out here, talking, grieving, supporting each other. But mostly searching for answers. Why today . 17 teachers and students are dead. Oh my god reporter who are. In the classroom. Terrifying gunshots near the end of the school day. Students posting videos on social media as a shooter opened fire at Stoneman Douglas high in florida north of ft. Lauderdale. I have the gunshot victim. This is a catastrophic and unbelievable, catastrophic day in Broward County history. Its devastating. Im sick to my stomach. Hands, put your hands up reporter teens streaming out single file, hands in the air, reminiscent of columbine. And so many other recent shootings. Im just relieved hes okay, yes. Reporter officials calling it a mass casualty incident. Im coming out to the east side with the casualty. Got an ambulance standing by, critical. Reporter some of the victims treated on the sidewalk outside of the school. One of my friends who got out one of the windows, when he was running over here to go to his mom, he looked all shaken and stuff. And he said he did see two dead bodies. Reporter with the shooter described as a former student, still at large, scared students sheltering in place texting their loved ones. She was sending us texts like saying, i love you, im sorry, and all that. She didnt think she was going to make it. Reporter worried parents desperately waiting for news. Many racing to the school. And he told me, were still here, we hear gunshots outside of the classroom. Oh, im happy because i have my son with me. I thank you jesus. I was very worried. Its the worst feeling for a parent to go through. Reporter as police sweep the campus for other possible threats, distraught families try to come to terms with another american tragedy. Several of the students weve spoken with today still dont know if some of their fellow students are alive or dead. Police are not releasing the names of the students or the teachers who have died in this shooting. Weve been told that only 12 of the 17 who have died have been identified, and part of the reason for that is because a lot of the students didnt have i. D. On them, so theyre still working to identify them and notify family. On that last point you made, 12 of the 17 identified, you and i both know what that means. There are going to be families showing up at morgues, perhaps not seeing their child, who may still be deceased in another room. What a gruesome time at that hospital. Reporter yeah, brian. And as you know, its going to take days, weeks, if not months for these young kids to recover. As you know also, theyre going to be bringing in counselors once the school opens back up. There will be a lot of grief counseling going on for many, many weeks to come. Enormous high school, 3,000plus students. Tammy leitner whos covered this story so ably all day long, thanks very much for staying up with us tonight. We want to turn to jim guard, a math deeper at marjorie Stoneman Douglas high school in parkland, florida. Walk us through your experience today starting with the first you heard something was wrong. Well, i had just finished a review for a test with the kids. And about 2 20 or so, we had the fire alarm went off, which i thought was unusual because we had just had a fire drill today about 9 30 or so. So i told the kids, hang on for a second before we go out, it could have been something accidental. Something burnt or what have you. We all looked at the door. Then our administrator got on and said, evacuate the building. Naturally, we all started evacuating. Making sure everything is secure and all the kids go out. All of a sudden we hear code red. I yell, get back in. By then, almost all the students were gone except for about four or five. So they came rushing in. I looked out the door for a couple extra seconds, 10 or 12 seconds. There was nobody around so i closed the door. I had six kids in there with me. Five girls and a boy. And of course myself. And we just turned the lights off that youre supposed to do in a code red, which is active shooter. And we heard a bunch of popping and the kids were wondering, oh my gosh, what is this . I said, look, we dont know, it could be a drill, we dont know what it is. Just hang out here. We went back in towards a closet. And hung out there. And basically after about five or ten minutes, we realized that this wasnt a drill. Have you ever felt more responsible for other people than you were today . I mean, you know this is my 36th year teaching math. Teaching students. You know youre responsible for the kids every day. Obviously today was certainly different. Its just its hard to describe. I read a stat tonight, there have been 18 School Shootings elsewhere in the world over the last two decades. In our country alone, there have been 18 School Shootings in the last 35 days. I know youre not a politician. But you were at the crux of this public issue today. And do you believe lawmakers failed you in that moment . Do you believe we can do better than this . Oh, theres no doubt we can do better than this. Even, you know if you look at the Second Amendment itself, a wellregulated militia. Well, what is well regulated . Obviously its not well regulated enough. I dont know. All we hear is we hear the sympathies, the sympathies, the sympathies. There hasnt been any action. Like i said, ive been teaching long enough, thinking back to columbi columbine, there hasnt been much done. They can say what they want, both sides are just as guilty. Tell me about nicolas cruz, 19 years old. Ive heard various accounts of him, as a loner, having been thrown out of other schools, aspirations to join the military, obviously unbalanced. Had you known about him, and when you heard the news, did it make sense to you in a perverse way that it was him . I had him in class, i think it was last year. I think he was in the first semester. He was quiet. He was a quiet kid in class, so he didnt really nothing outstanding. It was a basic class sort of between algebra i and geometry. I think it was seventh hour, last period of the day. I never had any problems with him. And unfortunately, people say, does this make any sense . Well, no. No shooting such as these makes sense. So i really cant say anything one way or the other. Like i say, he never really he hasnt a problem in class when i had him, but that was over a year ago now. Authorities arent releasing names, and we understand that. We want the families to be notified in the proper way. But have you been able to check in with the folks you know and have been worried about . Well, what we did when i had my six kids there, first thing i did was take attendance, whos here, whos not here, what kids were absent, then we were all on various emails. And i had some teach i say, i have these kids with me, another teacher, i have these kids with me. I went through this list. Every kid has a cell phone so it worked out great that they could text each other and i was able to find out where everybody was, except for three kids. And then when we got released a couple hours later, the three kids were right there. So all the kids that i had in class, thank goodness, were safe. Because thats terrifying itself, obviously, your own students. But i dont know the names of any of the other kids. I guess well find out monday. How about colleagues on the faculty . I did hear of one. Obviously im not going to say names right now because if that hasnt been sure. Out there. But you know. Faculty or students, you know one is not more terrible than the other. What do you think what are your thoughts like on going back to work on these children, especially the ones who had to run out today past dead bodies of classmates . Hows that going to work . Well Broward County does have a really good social worker program. Good social workers, very good guidance. Even today, as terrible as this was we had just gone through training on this about three weeks ago. It very well could have been a whole lot worse. With this kid. I dont see how you can say it can be a lot worse when you have 17 people. But we all knew exactly what to do. Youve got 3,000some kids in there. And they were kept pretty safe. Unfortunately, you know, if i were one of the parents, id say, well, mine wasnt safe. And thats a terrible thing. I have kids of my own. A veteran of the of over three decades in the classroom, and despite your modesty, we are aware that a whole bunch of parents can be happy you were on the job today because they got their kids home as a result. Jim guard, a mathematics teacher at marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, were glad youre well, were glad youre safe. We grieve for the Overall School community there. Thank you very much for joining us on the air tonight. Thank you so much. Take care. Thanks again. Thank you, jim. Throughout our coverage today, weve heard from different students at this high school who knew the suspect before he had been expelled. When i was in the vocational school, the alternate school, he went ahead and showed me all his layout of guns and said hed shoot them around for fun. I met nick my sophomore year. He was a little bit off. I could tell there was Something Different about him. Yeah, a little bit insane. Not insane. More like the term more troubled . Yeah, more troubled. The kids predicted, joking around, hed be the one who shoots the school. Turns out this was predicted and it came to life. He got in trouble with shooting his guns all the time. A lot of kids would bring guns to school multiple times. Hes always been a crazy kid. I heard people say one day he would have done this, and unfortunately, i think that was today. What was bit him that made you think that perhaps there wasnt something right . He was erratic. He was always messing with his fingers. He was always talking about doing crazy things. He was just never right in the head. He was always crazy. I never really got close to him because i had a feeling there was something wrong. Joining us tonight, two brothers who attend the high school, brandon menoff is a senior, he was outside the school when the shooting started, knows the suspect. His younger brother aidan was inside the school. Aidan, what did you first see and experience . So i was wrapping up in math class. As you know, it was at the end of the day. We were pretty much just packing up. We period a few pops. And at the time we didnt really think much of it, as it could have been, you know, a kid throwing something or maybe a chip bag opening in the hallway. Until one of my friends who was previously in the bathroom came in running, frantically screaming that theres a shooter, he heard gunshots. We were all a little suspicious until the fire alarm was pulled shortly thereafter and we heard a bunch of other shots. And thats when the lights were turned off, door was locked, and we went into hiding. Have you accounted for all of your friends at school . Is everybody okay that you know . Yes, i do. And everyone in my classroom that i was in is okay, including the teacher and the administrator that was spectating us. All right, thank you. Brandon, tell us about this guy, fellow students call nick, 19yearold Nicholas Cruz . I had two classes with him back sophomore year. I never really associated with him or talked to him until one day i got paired to do a project with him and he just started talking to me, telling me how he got expelled from two different private schools, held back twice, he had aspirations of joining the military, and he enjoyed hunting. People said he made unusual markings on his body, he left an incredible trail of kind of evidence pointing to this on social media. It sounds like he was the kind of kid you then took pains to avoid . I hadnt seen that at the time. I just always thought that he was unusual and strange. Always sat alone, twiddling his thumbs, keeping to himself, laugh at himself. So what was your reaction when you heard that it was him . I wasnt surprised, but it was kind of unfortunate to hear. If you were a lawmaker, an adult in a decisionmaking position, how would you stop, do you think, the kind of thing that happened today . A kid who had been thrown out, comes back with a weapon, and takes out whatever grievance hes been Walking Around with in his head . Gunwise, i dont think theres any way to prevent it. You outlaw guns, just creates higher demand for it. I think it has to do with mental health, though. If hes been expelled three different times, three different schools, i think he should be helped out. Brandon, i asked your brother this. Have you accounted for everybody you know no. Yes, sir. So everyone you know in your circle of friends is safe . Yes. Im just hoping the other 17 people arent anybody close to me. Aidan, whats it going to feel like, what do you know about when you guys can go back . I know its closed for the week. I know counselors show up at 8 00 a. M. Tomorrow at an offsite location. Whats it going to feel like walking back in there . Its going to feel like a brandnew and unfortunately not a goodnew kind of school. Everyones going to walk in knowing what happened. And theres no way of changing that. Trying to go back. Really, its just going to be a grieving and really depressing time. But we should unify as a community and a society from this tragedy. I see youve got team colors on your tshirt. How would you have described your high school to me before today . A normal school. Hang out with my friends, go to school, eat lunch. Never really expect any of this to happen. Its unfortunate that it did. Im amazed at the composure you guys have been able to show tonight. I know youve been through just a hellish day. Thank you both so much. Im sorry to take your time and keep you up further. Thanks so much for joining us tonight. We are so sorry for what happened at your high school today. Brandon and aidan, we really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Were going to take a break in our coverage here. More of our coverage when the 11th hour continues. For all the noses that stuff up around pets. Theres flonase sensimist. 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Welcome to the party. S. I saw two girls dead next to each other, holding hands. You heard theyre best friends . They were best friends, i heard. There was another body in front of me. There was three on the bathroom floor. And another one. I was just standing with my teacher, once we saw the students running, i started to think, whats happening . I heard the gunshots and i was like, oh my god. I just ran. I heard six shots, loud. Loud shots. After i heard that, oh my god, we got to go. I started running as fast as i can. All the kids came inside the rooms and everything. There were teachers pulling us in, telling us to get in the rooms, be quiet. Oh, what a joy, oh, such a joy and a relief. I just hope all the other kids are okay. Oh my god. Unbelievable to watch. Valentines day, 2018, another mass shooting in another high school, the high school at parkland california. The latest numbers are this. 17 people, students and teachers, lost their lives. 14 are injured. There are still in the hospital, some in critical condition. To give you an idea of the kind of city were talking about, parkland is invariably described as a treelined Commuter Community and was listed this year as one of the 100 safest cities in our country. Its near the far western border of Broward County, florida, if you know the state at all, up against the edge of the everglades to the west. Joining me now is the city commissioner of Coral Springs. Thats the neighboring town that students also attend. Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school. Dan daly is an luminous, knows the community well. When did you graduate . As i asked one of the kids in the break, how would you have described this high school yesterday . Sure. Good evening, brian. Im sorry to