NC lawmakers take to social media in wake of Florida mass school shooting

In the wake of another mass shooting in Florida that left at least 17 people dead and fears that the toll could rise, several of North Carolina's elected representatives took to social media to express condolences and shock.

Posted 5:41 p.m. Feb 15, 2018 — Updated 3:20 p.m. Jul 13, 2018

RALEIGH, N.C. — In the wake of another mass shooting in Florida that left at least 17 people dead and fears that the toll could rise, several of North Carolina's elected representatives took to social media to express condolences and shock.

Nikolas Cruz, who authorities say barged into his former high school with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle and carried out one of the deadliest school shootings in modern U.S. history, was charged Thursday with 17 counts of premeditated murder, one for each of the students and adults who were killed.

Cruz, 19, was booked into jail in Broward County and authorities released a mug shot of him staring wide-eyed into the camera. He had been expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, a small, bucolic city about an hour north of Miami, which on Wednesday became the site of one of the deadliest shootings in modern U.S. history, adding to the growing toll of mass killings on school grounds.

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Authorities said the AR-15 rifle that Cruz used in the attack was purchased legally. “No laws were violated in the procurement of this weapon,” said Peter J. Forcelli, special agent in charge for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Miami.

Videos taken from inside the school captured the terror as students crouched for shelter, screaming as the sound of gunfire rang out near them.

With the Parkland shooting, three of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history have come in the last five months.

Reactions from North Carolina's elected officials:

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