New Details on Florida Shooting Suspect; State Rep. Moskowitz Talks School Shooting, Anti-Gun Rallies; Florida Shooting Compared to Columbine
CABRERA: Now, this is chilling. A 19-year-old who slaughtered 17 people at the Florida high school this week used to introduce himself as, "Hi, I'm a school shooter." That is what someone who knows him tells CNN. His social media accounts are full of pictures of him posing with guns and knives as hints of a future violent act are beginning to emerge. CNN senior investigative correspondent, Drew Griffin, is in Parkland, Florida. Drew, you have been talking to people who live near him or knew him. What are you learning about this disturbed person?</s>DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Ana, beyond the mass shootings that we have done, we have found so many warning signs in this one. The police called to the Cruz home many, many time, talking with the Cruz family about Nikolas and his mental illness, the fact that he was under behavioral treatment, seeing a therapist. All the warning signs were there. The school knew it. The kids knew it. And one of his neighbors told us that it was so very, very obvious that if you just spent a few seconds talking with him, you would have been able to determine that this guy had no business owning a gun. Listen to this.</s>PAUL GOLD, NEIGHBOR OF FLORIDA SHOOTING SUSPECT: Why was he ever allowed the buy a gun? That is crazy. I mean, if I would have known that he had a gun -- I would have taken it. I would have personally taken action, and I would have, you know, I would have taken the gun from him. He had too much of a temper. He would break thing, and he'd be the last person who should ever have a weapon.</s>GRIFFIN: There have been many, many warning signs, but what may have been a breaking point occurred last November when Cruz lost his mother in a somewhat very quick illness. She died, and Nikolas had to call Paul Gold and ask for a ride to the funeral. And there were four people attending the funeral. We have a picture of Cruz there at the funeral. And those are his brothers' hands putting the urn of their mother into the resting place. But just four people. It was Cruz, and younger brother, Zachary, and two former neighbors. That, Paul Gold said, that hit Nikolas Cruz hard. While everyone is trying to deal with all of this mess, the latest from the sheriff's department is that, Ana, they are looking through the electronic devices, and the phone, but as we reported, we knew what this kid was thinking based on his social media postings.</s>ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Drew, this this is so sad and troubling on so many levels. Thank you for the reporting. I want to talk about the victims and the lives impacted the most. Students who went to the school, and the families who lost loved ones. Powerful emotions on display today near Ft. Lauderdale, and anguished voices calling for change. This is Parkland's Vice Mayor Stacy Kagan.</s>STACY KAGAN, PARKLAND VICE MAYOR: We have had too many national tragedies across our country. And it is time for this to stop.</s>KAGAN: February 14th, 2018, at 2:35 p.m. has changed our city and our community and our country forever. This city of Parkland and this city of Coral Spring, we are going to be united as one, because our children come from both of those communities forever. Talk to your kids. Spread the word, this can never happen again. We need safety in our schools. We need unity. We need to fight together and make this stop.</s>CABRERA: Joining us now is Florida State Representative Jared Moskowitz, a Parkland native who graduated from Stoneman Douglas High School in 1989. Sir, thank you for joining us. You said that nothing will change after this massacre, and do you still feel that way because of the rally?</s>STATE REP.  JARED MOSKOWITZ, (D), FLORIDA: Thank you, Ana. And I am becoming more hopeful each day. We have three weeks left of session in Tallahassee. My conversations with the governor and the speaker and the folks in the Senate, we are currently looking at putting together what I think is going to be a bold proposal. But obviously, until that happens, and until it passes committee, and until it gets on the floor of the House on the floor of the Senate and passes, I'm still pessimistic. I am pessimistic because we have seen in this country children, babies, die at Sandy Hook and nothing changed after that. And maybe it is different for Parkland and maybe it will be different. Maybe the fact that it happened in the safest town in the state of Florida brings it home for many people. Maybe it is because these students are so well spoken and know exactly what is wrong with the system. And they want to come to talk to their elected leaders. Maybe it is going to be different. And maybe it is different, because we are seeing more images than we have seen before because of the technology. I am hopeful that it is going to be different, but until it is different, it is the same.</s>CABRERA: I want to ask you more about what the possibilities are moving forward in a moment. But first, take a moment and think about these victims. And I know that you have attended some of the vigils and the funerals. How has this experience changed you?</s>MOSKOWITZ: These funerals are things they have never seen before. I was with the victims' families in a room for six hours while they waited for law are enforcement to come in and let them know that their son or daughter was not at the hospital, but that they were in the building still. And I thought that it was a hallowing experience but being at a funeral where parents are putting their teenaged son or daughter in a pine box to be put into the ground and seeing how angry they are, and their frustration and knowing in the back of my mind that this system completely failed them and their children. All systems on this failed. The fact that we had warning signs, the fact that he could go buy a weapon, the fact that the school board knew about it, the sheriff's office, the FBI. And to hear parents say, that the only thing that they did wrong was send their kid to school -- I mean, what does that say to parents across the country that we can't send our children to school. We live in the most powerful country in the world and the most powerful military, we talk about it in Foreign Relations, but the schools are not safe. It is a complete and utter failure. And what I have seen at the funerals, I hope to never see it again. I hope this never comes to another town in America again.</s>CABRERA: Amen to that. I want you to hear what Florida Governor Rick Scott said here on CNN. Listen.</s>RICK SCOTT, (R), FLORIDA GOVERNOR (via telephone): Everything is on the table. All right. I am going to be looking at every way that we can make sure that the kids are safe. It is a lot of things. It is looking at, who should have guns. Should individuals with mental illness have guns? Should, what can we do to create more safety in our schools? What can we to make it easier for our children and make them feel comfortable to report things? It is not one thing. It is all of these things put together.</s>CABRERA: So, Representative, when pressed on whether he will look at gun laws, he says that everything is on the table. And you just mentioned that there are talks going on at the state capital right now about what "everything on the table" might look like. Can you fill us in on what is being discussed?</s>MOSKOWITZ: Well, Ana, everything is on the table. They are looking at everything. They are looking at mental illness, and they are looking at school hardening, and they are looking at what to do here at Marjory Stoneman Douglas with the building, with the memorial, and how law enforcement communicates. One thing after 9/11, departments started to communicate with one another, and the fact that the BSO and the school board and the FBI were not communicating about the same person. They each had pieces of the puzzle, but they could not put it together because they were not talking. That's being looked at, but most importantly, they are look at gun control and things to do to make sure that A.R.-15s don't wind up in the hands of teenagers. If you can't drink in the country and you can't rent-a-car, maybe you should not have a A.R.-15. So while the talks are going on, I don't want to talk about specific proposals, but what I will say is that those discussions are ongoing. We have three weeks three weeks of session to get it done, and then we won't talk about policy in Tallahassee until after the 2018 election. And I can't look these parents in the face and tell them that we did nothing. I refuse to do so. So I will try my best to work with people, and people on my side of the aisle, and people on the other side of the aisle. Because at the end of the day, whether you are a Republican or Democrat, we are parents. Parents must try and triumph over the party. That is the only way to keep our kids safe in school.</s>CABRERA: Thank you so much Florida State Representative Jared Moskowitz. And we will check back with you to see where things go. Thank you so much.</s>MOSKOWITZ: Thank you very much.</s>CABRERA: Our condolences to you and everybody in the state. Coming up next, a Columbine shooting survivor reacts to the Florida shooting incident. I will ask Sean Graves about his message for the students of Parkland High as they get ready to return to the site of the nightmare beyond comprehension.