On Valentines day gunshots rang out at Stoneman Douglas High School. This marks the eighteenth school shooting of 2018. This shooting resulted in a the deaths of 17 people including staff and students.

Twelve students were killed inside the building and two died outside, one died in the street and two died at the hospital. Seventeen people, including the suspect, were sent to local hospitals.

The shooter was identified as nineteen year old Nikolas Cruz. Cruz once attended Stoneman Douglas High School but was expelled for disciplinary reasons.  Cruz brought a .223, AR-15 style rifle to the school. He pulled the fire alarm to get everyone into the halls. According to a law enforcement source, the suspect initially mixed in with the crowd of students to try to get away, but it didn’t work.

Parkland, with a population of 31,000 in 2016, was named Florida’s safest city last year, according to one analysis. The south Florida city had seven reported violent crimes and 186 property crimes the previous year.

This tragedie marks another shooting on the growing list. This event had to have been a huge shock to the south Florida city seeing that they have been such a safe city to be in. The south Florida city is working to consolidate with the families of the students and teachers involved in the incident.