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A few months before the February attack that had killed 17 in a high school in Parkland, Florida, the suspect Nikolas Cruz had been a victim of a criminal offense on campus and mixed up with students, according to news reports. witness statements.
Sandra Rennie, a computer science teacher, told investigators that she had seen Cruz wearing a hoodie sweatshirt and a backpack on the first day of class at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in August 2017, Sun Sentinel announced in South Florida.
Cruz had been expelled from school a year ago.
"I was like" Oh, Nik, you're back, "and he said," Yes, I'm back, "and I was like, OK, good to see you again," Rennie said. .
She added that she was not worried when Cruz told him that he was still a student, but nevertheless alerted an administrator, who escorted her out of school grounds.
Rennie added that she had also taught Cruz in an engineering class, where he "did not look much in the eye, kept his head down" and was silent. She described her grades as "F" when asked about her academic performance.
She said that he had once destroyed a class project consisting of bridges in toothpicks and Popsicle sticks so that others would not receive a better grade, the newspaper says.
Rennie also said that Cruz was angry one day because a computer had forbidden him to do research on different types of hunting weapons. Cruz once showed him pictures of disfigured people he thought were funny.
In an article posted on Instagram in August 2017, Cruz sent despicable messages to another man as part of an attempt to get a girlfriend and began a fight with the student in September 2016.
"I will kill you !!!!! I will shoot you down," read the transcript of one of his diatribes.
On Valentine's Day, Cruz returned to Parkland, Florida, where a school armed with an AR-15 rifle killed 17 students and staff and wounded 17 others, authorities said. A security guard thought that he was carrying a gym bag but did not confront him, according to the statements.
Cruz also reportedly threatened to shoot his brother and mother during various incidents.
Rennie's comments were part of several witness statements that prosecutors made public Friday.
Kelvin Greenleaf, security specialist, said he viewed Cruz Cruz's security footage inside a school building. According to the newspaper, he provided this information to Scot Peterson, a Broward County School Resource Officer.
He said he saw a police officer from Coral Springs running towards the shooting.
Peterson resigned from his post after the revelation that he had not acted and confronted Cruz, saying that he did not know where the shots would come from.
Winfred Porter, a high school vice principal, called for an evacuation after hearing the fire alarm and seeing a control panel in the administration building that indicated the problem was a gas leak.
Campus monitor Elliot Bonner called a red code to lock the school after hearing the shots.
Cruz is charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and faces the death penalty if convicted.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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