PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) – The Latest on the deadly Florida high school shooting (all times local):
4:45 p.m.
Parents, students and teachers affected by past school shootings will attend a White House listening session about school safety this week.
Students from Stoneman Douglas High School, hug survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting before boarding buses in Parkland, Fla., Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018. The students plan to hold a rally Wednesday in hopes that it will put pressure on the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature to consider a sweeping package of gun-control laws, something some GOP lawmakers said Monday they would consider.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday that attendees will include people from Parkland, Florida, where a gunman killed 17 people at a high school last week.
She praised the bravery of victims who saved others and said President Donald Trump believes “it is the right of every American child to grow up in a safe community.”
Sanders says the Wednesday listening session also will include people touched by the Columbine and Sandy Hook mass shootings.
On Thursday, the local officials and law enforcement officers will continue the discussion.
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4:05 p.m.
A Florida Senate committee has endorsed a proposal to put law enforcement officers in every school in the state.
Only slightly more than half of Florida’s more than 4,000 public schools have the resource officers. They are sworn law-enforcement officers and allowed to carry a weapon on a school campus.
The Senate Education Committee voted Tuesday to include the requirement in a sweeping education bill that is now moving through the legislature.
The proposal is expected to also be part of a comprehensive gun bill that Senate Republicans plan to release later this week. GOP leaders have drafted the legislation in response to the shootings at a Florida high school that left 17 people dead.
Meanwhile, the state House has voted down a motion to take up a bill that would ban assault rifles, effectively killing the measure for this session.
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3:30 p.m.
Less than a week after 17 people were fatally shot at a Florida high school, the state House has voted down a motion to take up a bill that would ban assault rifles, effectively killing the measure for this session.
The motion failed by a 36-71 vote.
As the Florida House opened its session Tuesday, Democratic Rep. Kionne McGhee asked for a procedural move that would have allowed it to consider a bill to ban assault rifles and large capacity magazines. The bill had been assigned to three committees but was not scheduled for a hearing. The committees won’t meet again before the legislative session ends March 9.
McGhee said that means the bill would be dead unless the House voted to remove it from the committees and let it be considered by the full House.
Republican leaders in the House and Senate say they will consider proposals including raising age restrictions for gun purchases and the red-flag bill regarding temporarily taking away someone’s guns if they are deemed a threat to others.
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One of the three buses that were supposed to take school shooting survivors to the state capital has broken down as it prepared to leave.
The bus driver says the air conditioning on the bus is not working and they are trying to get another bus. They hope that the bus will join the other two that have departed for Tallahassee.
The group of about 100 students is making the 400-mile trip to the state capital to pressure lawmakers to act on a sweeping package of gun control laws.
The students plan to hold a rally Wednesday at the Capitol.
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3:05 p.m.
Authorities say a Florida teen has been arrested and had his rifle confiscated after posting a threatening video online.
A Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office news release says 18-year-old Kane Watson was charged Monday with making threats to do bodily harm and making a false report. Officials didn’t say which school, if any, Watson attended or whether he named a specific target.
Detectives say Watson posted a video to Snapchat that showed a tactical rifle being removed from a case and loaded with a magazine. A caption with the video said, “Don’t go to school.”
Detectives linked the post to Watson. Authorities say Watson admitted to posting the video, explaining that he did it to deal with stress through humor.
Crawfordville is about 435 miles northwest of Parkland, where 17 people were killed last week in a school shooting.
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2:50 p.m.
Students who walked out of classes in western North Carolina to protest mass shootings at U.S. schools say teenagers are tired of being ignored on the issue.
The Times-News of Hendersonville reports about 50 students left Polk High School on Tuesday and walked to the school entrance sign where they were greeted by an equal number of supporters.
Student body president Drew Bailey said school shootings are a humanitarian issue. Student body secretary-treasurer Luke Collins said students are tired of living in fear.
Students held cards with the names of 17 people killed last week at a high school in Parkland, Florida, when a former student went on a rampage with an assault rifle.
Polk County Schools Superintendent Aaron Greene supervised the event and helped direct traffic into the school.
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2:20 p.m.
Actor George Clooney and human-rights lawyer Amal Clooney are donating $500,000 to students organizing marches against gun violence, and the couple says they’ll also attend next month’s planned protests.
In a statement Tuesday, the Clooneys say they’re inspired by the “courage and eloquence” of the survivors-turned-activists from Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen people were killed at the school and others wounded when a former student went on a rampage with an assault rifle. Students are mobilizing a March 24 march in Washington and elsewhere to urge lawmakers to enact tougher gun control.
The Clooneys say they’re donating the money in the names of their 8-month-old twins. The couple also says the family plans to “stand side by side” with students next month.
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1:50 p.m.
A group of students who survived the Florida school shooting have started their 400-mile trip to the state capital to pressure lawmakers to act on a sweeping package of gun control laws.
The students left Coral Springs on Tuesday afternoon and expect to arrive in Tallahassee in the evening. They plan to hold a rally Wednesday at the Capitol in hopes that it will put pressure on the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature.
The fate of the new restrictions is unclear. Lawmakers have rebuffed gun restrictions since Republicans took control of the governor’s office and the Legislature in 1999. But some in the GOP say they will consider the bills.
Wednesday will mark one week since authorities say a former student killed 17 students and faculty at Stoneman Douglas High School.
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1:15 p.m.
Buses are preparing to take about 100 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students to Tallahassee so that they can pressure state lawmakers to pass more restrictive gun laws.
Dozens of reporters and cameras swarmed the students as they prepared to leave. Many of the students wore burgundy T-shirts of the school’s colors. They carried sleeping bags, pillows and luggage and hugged their parents as they loaded the bus for the 400-mile journey.
Alfonso Calderon is a 16-year-old junior. He says he hopes that the trip will start a conversation between the Legislature, Gov. Rick Scott and the students over commonsense laws on guns.
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(Corrects to three buses instead of two)
12:20 p.m.
Students from several Florida high schools have taken to the streets in a show of solidarity with students from a nearby school where 17 students were gunned down in their classrooms on Valentine’s Day.
Video footage taken from television news helicopter crews showed several dozen students who walked out of West Boca Raton High School on Tuesday morning, apparently bound for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in nearby Parkland. Many of the students were wearing their backpacks. The distance between the schools is about 11 miles (17 kilometers).
Several dozen more students gathered outside Fort Lauderdale High School, holding signs with messages that included “our blood is on your hands.”
On Monday, students at American Heritage High School held a similar protest.
Former Stoneman student, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, is charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
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Midnight
A hundred Stoneman Douglas High School students are busing hundreds of miles across Florida to its capital to urge lawmakers to act to prevent a repeat of the massacre that killed 17 students and faculty last week.
After arriving late Tuesday, they plan to hold a rally Wednesday in hopes that it will put pressure on the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature to consider a sweeping package of gun-control laws. Shortly after the shooting, several legislative leaders were taken on a tour of the school to see the damage firsthand and appeared shaken afterward.
Chris Grady is a 19-year-old senior on the trip. He said he hopes the trip will lead to some “commonsense laws like rigorous background checks.”
FILE – In this Oct. 22, 2017 file photo, Amal Clooney and George Clooney arrive at the premiere of “Suburbicon” in Los Angeles. George and Amal Clooney are donating $500,000 to students organizing nationwide marches against gun violence, and they say they’ll also attend next month’s planned protests. In a statement released Tuesday, Feb. 20, the couple says they are inspired by the “courage and eloquence” of the survivors-turned-activists from Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
Mourners react as they leave the funeral services for slain Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Carmen Schentrup, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018, at St. Amdrews Catholic Church in Coral Springs, Fla. Nilolas Cruz is charged with killing over a dozen people and wounding many others in the attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)
FILE – In this Feb. 14, 2018 file photo, students are evacuated by police from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., after a shooter opened fire on the campus. The school shooting that left several people dead appears to be the first major tragedy of its kind in which students were sharing horrific images in near-real time with young people elsewhere. Experts say the footage could scar young people psychologically. But it could also galvanize them. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)
Nikolas Cruz appears in court for a status hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Cruz is charged with killing 17 people and wounding many others in Wednesday’s attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which he once attended. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)
Nikolas Cruz appears in court for a status hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Cruz is charged with killing 17 people and wounding many others in Wednesday’s attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which he once attended. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)
Sen. Bobby Powell talks with survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and other students from Broward County, Fla. high schools in his office at the Florida Capital in Tallahassee, Fla., Feb 20, 2018.Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a shooting left 17 dead, are in Tallahassee channeling their anger and sadness into action. (AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser)
Mourners react as they leave the funeral services for slain Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Carmen Schentrup, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018, at St. Andrews Catholic Church in Coral Springs, Fla. Nikolas Cruz is charged with killing 17 people and wounding many others in the attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which he once attended. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)
Members of the Florida state patriot guard riders arrive at the funeral services for slain Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Carmen Schentrup, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018, at St. Andrews Catholic Church in Coral Springs, Fla. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)
Mourners react as they leave the funeral services for slain Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Carmen Schentrup, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018, at St. Andrews Catholic Church in Coral Springs, Fla. Nikolas Cruz is charged with killing 17 people and wounding many others in the attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which he once attended. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)
Sen. Bobby Powell talks with survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and other students from Broward County, Fla. high schools in his office at the Florida Capital in Tallahassee, Fla., Feb 20, 2018.Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School,, where a shooting left 17 dead, are in Tallahassee channeling their anger and sadness into action. (AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser)
Rachel Catania, a 15-year-old survivor from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla., Tuesday, Feb 20, 2018. Survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that left 17 dead are in Tallahassee channeling their anger and sadness into action. (AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser)
Survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and other students from Broward County, Fla. high schools listen to Sen. Bobby Powell in his office at the Florida Capital in Tallahassee, Fla., Feb 20, 2018. Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a shooting left 17 dead, are in Tallahassee channeling their anger and sadness into action. (AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser)
Sheryl Acquarola, a 16 year-old junior from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is overcome with emotion in the east gallery of the House of Representatives after the representatives voted not to hear the bill banning assault rifles and large capacity magazines at the Florida Capital in Tallahassee, Fla., Tuesday, Feb 20, 2018. Acquarola was one of the survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that left 17 dead, who were in Tallahassee channeling their anger and sadness into action. (AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser)
Sheryl Acquarola, a 16 year-old junior from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is overcome with emotion in the east gallery of the House of Representatives after the representatives voted not to hear the bill banning assault rifles and large capacity magazines at the Florida Capital in Tallahassee, Fla., Tuesday, Feb 20, 2018. Acquarola was one of the survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that left 17 dead, who were in Tallahassee channeling their anger and sadness into action. (AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser)
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