♪ do you know where the shooter is? >> tonight on "nightline," those horrifying moment playing out in a florida high school. teenagers running for their lives as we learn at least 17 are dead. >> we were just, like, praying, and crying. i don't know how we're alive. >> a gunman rampaging through the halls. >> oh, my god! >> students hiding under desks and in closets. swat teams swarming the scene. >> everybody down. >> students scrambling to safety, forced to abandon their backpacks to be searched for weapons. lucky survivors reunited. with loved ones. now now expelled student in custody. his obsession with guns and the

latest in the investigation. "nightline" will be right back. custody. his obsession with guns and the latest in the investigation. "nightline" will be right back. ♪ team usa to south korea!

we can't fly... ...but you know who can? ♪ helping superheroes fly. united. ♪ ♪ good evening. thank you for joining us. another horrific school shooting echoed across american, 17 killed in parkland, florida, a city listed just days ago as one of the safest in the country.

tonight we hear new detail s about the suspect who is now in police custody. >> we could see the panic from a distance. frightened. >> reports are just coming in. we don't have a lot of information. >> we didn't know the who, but collectively as a nation we all feared the what. >> there's an active shooter situation situation in south florida. >> [ bleep ] oh, my god! >> that rapid roar of death and dieing. in another american school. >> does he know where the shooter is. >> we don't know but we're heading into the building. >> the first 911 calls came just before marjory stoneman douglas high school led out for the day. police, fbi and atf all descended on the scene. >> we can't get hold of her. >> have you called and texted and nothing has come back.

>> girlfriend got shot we heard. >> there was panic. confusion. parents desperate to find out had their child survived. >> it's devastating. i'm sick to my stomach. we have multiple casualties. >> a line of ambulances in place of the school busses. backpack as brandoned in a heap. >> we were just praying and crying, and i don't know how we're alive. >> hours go by. students finally reunited with their family and by evening 17 dead, 14 injured, and more about the alleged student, a former student, nikolas cruz who stole so much from so many. >> come to the conclusion this is absolutely pure evil. >> students detailing those traumatic moments from inside. >> all we heard was the gunshots. >> we heard the gunshots and hid in the tennis courts. >> talking about what they did as gunfire echoed in the hallway. >> heard like a garbage truck

banging. we hear boom, boom, boom hear screaming and we jumped under teacher's desk. >> swat teams can be seen searching the perimeter. >> we're monitoring the suspect. he went from the third to second floor. may have a gas mask on. >> students barricading in classrooms, closets, anywhere they could hide. >> need everyone down. >> as officers go room to room. >> put phones away. >> some recording disturbing videos of the mayhem many texting their parents. >> she keeps telling me be safe stay away. i'm telling her no i'm your mother i'm not staying away. >> outside controlled a chaos,

high schoolers streaming out of the building hands over their hands for safety. >> i heard someone down the hall say help me come save me. >> just after 3:00 p.m. the shooter is still at large. >> white male. burgundy shirt wearing black hat or long black pants mixed in with a group of students running west bound. authorities said he got out of the school by blending in with others who were trying to escape. >> it's not uncommon for thieves, like robbers, to try to blend in with the crowd and try to escape. somewhat unusual with mass shooters because vast majority of time they kill themselves or force law enforcement to kill them. >> students outside, breathless, heart wrenching reunions, others waiting for answers, some student and staff unaccounted for. >> the family keeps texting her and she's texting back thank god. >> are you going to leave.

>> we'll leave when she comes out. >> what did she fell you. >> she's crying. can't say anything. she's crying a lot. >> this student recalls seeing teacher shot. >> we saw his body for like 30 minutes. we were just like praying, and crying and, then the police came and we just got out. >> this is the day we prayed would never be here in broward county but we're going to deal with it as a community. >> around 4:00 p.m. the alleged gunman taken down in this video, sourced identified him as 19-year-old former student nikolas cruz. >> he was a former student of douglas high school he got expelled for disciplinary reasons, i don't know the specifics. >> the school represented something to the shooter. this is not the first time this has happened. think of adam at sandy hook who walked into elementary school he

attended years before, because there was something about that school that he wanted to destroy. sadly, he did. >> tonight new information about the alleged shooter, a family member telling abc news, cruz was adopted with his younger brother, both of those parents now deceased. a former class mate called him quiet. that he had a interest in weapons. >> i knew he was into guns. he's like a country kind of boy. >> last year had a lot of conflicts in school. got in a fight with one kid and from what i know he wasn't allowed to bring his backpack because they found bullet casings in it. >> i told my parents last year every week i was scared this kid might do something. >> if you take somebody's access to firearm and the fact they talk about fighting or have been in fights now you start to put the pieces together and connect the dots of an individual who

may have predisposition to commit an attack like this. >> authorities say the suspect used an assault rifle and began shooting outside before continuing inside. >> he had countless magazines, multiple magazines. and one ar-15 rifle. >> sounds like there was a fire alarm that was tripped. big question will be whether the suspect triggered the fire alarm, if that was done to get the students to come out of the building and then the suspect was then starting to shoot at the innocent students coming out that would indicate there was planning on his part. >> today's shooting marks the 18th school shooting this year in a nation with average of 300 mass shooting each of the last three years. that's at least four shot in each incident. too soon since the mourning of las vegas those that were killed

at first baptist church in sutherland springs, texas. >> as a parent it scares me to death that this body doesn't take seriously the safety of my children. >> connect senator chris murphy who represented the state sandy hook happened five years ago was on the floor when news broke about today's killings. >> it only happens here not because of coincidence, not because of bad luck, but is a consequence of our inaction. >> president trump also responding, tweeting no child, teacher, or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an american school. >> no parent should ever have to send their kids to school and have them not return. that should not happen in parkland, it shouldn't happen anywhere in this country. >> school shootings are no longer new in america. each one still numbering. we send our children to school to learn, not to die.

next, how communities across the country are preparing for the worst. schools and law enforcement running active shooter drills. running active shooter drills. ♪ life goes on, yes, life goes on... ♪ i've always wanted to share a special moment with my mom. i think surprising her with a night ski trip would just be the biggest gift i could give her. let's make that happen. she's gonna be so excited. ♪ take me where i want to be. ♪ ♪ let me dream, oh, let me dream... ♪ if you could see your cough... it's just a cough. you'd see how often you cough all day. and so would everyone else. robitussin delivers fast, powerful relief to fight your cough in 12 hour shifts. robitussin 12 hour cough relief, because it's never just a cough.

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here's abc's david wright. >> can you tell where the shooter is? >> we don't know but we're running in the building. >> today the unthinkable happened again. >> i'm sick to my stomach. >> one injured person he's shot. >> unfolding this time at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida. >> i just heard a few bangs. >> went out for a fire drill and all i heard were gunshots. >> the suspected gunman, just 19 years old on a rampage. kids fleeing the school, their hands in the air. >> our have seen this so much that they know to raise their hand when they're walking out so that officer can ensure that you are not complicit involved in this shooting. >> the shooter was still on the loose at that point. >> we have multiple swat teams. >> police unsure where the weapon is collect every students backpack. >> this is a terrible day for

parkland, broward county and the united states. >> events like this continue to happen. in dozens of counties across the country. so american law enforcement and teachers are getting to be experts in responding to deadly incidents like this. >> minutes and seconds matter because so much damage can be done by the type of weapons that are available in our country. semi automatic high-power rifle. the capacity to hold more bullet in the magazines creates this dynamic of multiple tragedies. >> today's school shooting ranks among the top five deadliest to date in the u.s. in schools across the country lock down drills are common as fire drills. >> i'm going to kill everybody

nobody's getting out. >> some go as far as covering student in fake blood and recruiting volunteers to make it more realistic. >> attention. this is a drill. we need to lock down. >> in 2014 we embedded at sky view academy in colorado as they went through the standard lock down drill. >> please go behind my desk. >> the teacher locks the door and pulls the shade. everyone's told to keep quiet. >> it's kind of scary, huh? >> kind of yeah. >> the kids huddle quietly. >> do know why they do this did drill. >> to practice in case anyone comes here. >> do you worry this scares students. >> we do but we practice enough that we hope that students are and staff is getting used to the idea. we have to. >> how long do these go for. >> five minutes is longest we've had. >> teacher holley carpenter supported these drills she's a

graduate of columbine high school. >> when you look at those kids are you always thinking someone could come take their lives. >> no i look at those kids and think how great they are, how lucky i am to teach them, and i think wonder what they're going to be like when they grow up. hd it's why she went into teaching and it's is why she take these drills very personally. >> i always get a lump in my throat it's not about flash backs of columbine it's about the thought of anyone even wanting to hurt the kids. >> sky view academy doesn't just do the basic lock down drill while we were there the teachers were getting a new method of training. >> nobody's getting out. teaching everyone not just to

duck but to respond. >> active shooter training is the new normal and because these incidents are repeating themselves, escalating and we're learning lessons from failures in the past. >> how did you feel? >> way more empowered and lots of adrenaline. >> joe is a former swat team member who has responded to active shootings for real. >> this open. what's that mean? >> he's teaching them how to recognize when shooter is reloading his gun. >> he's out. right. >> and teaching defense tactics. >> there we go. good. good. >> how to take down a shooter. first responders do too back in 2016 night line embedded with the douglas county sheriff's department. as they conducted an active shooter drill in another colorado school. in a scenario this time more complicated. shots fired. hostages strapped to explosives and multiple schools on alert.

deputy and first responders race stward toward the sound of gunshots down the stairs and hallways not knowing how many gunmen there are. just as things are heating up at the high school another call sends deputies to a different school up the street. >> possible shooter at the school. >> two deputies head in alone. no time to wait for back up. inside helpless victim. one student chained to a bomb. these cops know their first priority is to eliminate the active shooter. in this scenario hold up in a first floor bathroom. drills such as this are no doubt good practice for the professionals. but is it fair to expect teachers and students to put themselves in harm's way. that's what we wondered at sky

view academy. >> is that one hundred pound student or teacher really going do be able to take down the 200 pound gunman. >> let's find out. joe is about 220. pick out anyone in the crowd and see. >> let's do it. >> so we got holley carpenter in her columbine sweat shirt to do it again. >> this time the guy's going to fight back. >> this time the gunman resisting her effort to disarm him. she and other teachers don't want to be sitting ducks. she's glad to have strategy she can use if her life is on the line. >> how's that feel? >> really good. >> this active shooter drill ends with a different version, of duck and cover, this time everyone arms themselves with a tennis ball but in real life might well be a hole punch or desk, chair, or dictionary.

this time it's the active shooter whose the sitting duck. would this works if the bullets were real or if this were a class full of kids, hard to know. but unfortunately with every incident like today in parkland florida, more and more communities figure better safe than sorry. i'm david for "nightline" >> our thanks to you david we'll be right back. 'saved money on motorcycle insurance with geico! goin' up the country. bowl without me. frank.' i'm going to get nachos. snack bar's closed. gah! ah, ah ah. ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪ geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. i ...prilosec otc 7 years ago,my doctor recommended... 5 years ago, last week. just 1 pill each morning, 24 hours and zero heartburn.

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♪ finally tonight, america's latest massacre occurred on a day designated to celebrate love, valentine's day, maya angelou once said if you only to people you love, on nights like this you could imagine adding a hug on this day, wouldn't hurt. thanks for watching. as always you can follow us on "nightline" facebook, thanks for the company, america, good night. can follow us on "nightline" facebook, thanks for the company, america, good night. night.

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