How Florida school shooter fooled his Uber driver on the way to killing 17 people
Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz told his Uber driver he was going to "music class" when he was dropped out the front of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where he shot and killed 17 people.
Cruz ordered the Uber at 2.06pm (local time) on February 14 from a location on Loxahatchee Road in Parkland and got into the back seat carrying his AR-15 assault rifle in a large concealed case, CBS Miami reports.
The unidentified Uber driver said she thought nothing of the case, assuming it was his guitar.
“I saw him with a backpack which I thought was a guitar case. He told me, ‘I am going to my music class',” the driver said.
The two didn't speak for the remainder of the 13-minute journey. The driver says Cruz appeared calm during the drive.
“Just a normal person,” the driver said. “I didn’t see anything strange.”
She had continued about her day after dropping Cruz off at 2.21pm but it wasn't long before she learned of the unthinkable tragedy.
“I saw the news and I thought ‘Oh, I just left someone over there',” she said.
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A few days later, the driver was tasked with picking up a fare that was heading to a funeral for one of the victims.
She said she wanted to cry.
The driver says she now feels connected to the deadliest US school shooting since 2012's Sandy Hook massacre.
“I don’t know. I feel involved with all this tragedy," she said.
Cruz has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
Devastated students return to school
With tears, fears and defiance, students made an emotional return to their Florida high school this week where former classmate Cruz went on a shooting rampage two weeks ago.
Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland were greeted by heavy security and scores of well-wishers as they returned to classes.
Dozens of police officers lined the sidewalks saying "good morning" to each child, retired officers passed out flowers. Former students, neighbors and their children held banners reading "We Love You," "You've Got This" and "We Are With You."
"It's all a little overwhelming," one 17-year-old student named William, who shared a classroom with two of the young victims, Nicholas Dworet and Meadow Pollack, said.
"It was just sad to go back there and not have my friends who were in the class with me anymore."
While there were few open displays of grief, many students looked sombre, speaking in hushed tones with their eyes downcast.
Since the shooting, Stoneman Douglas students have been lobbying politicians for stricter gun controls both in their home state of Florida and in Washington.
With AFP
