Hate group says the accused Florida school shooter did paramilitary exercises and got a rifle from members. Ex-students say he wore a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat in school.
By Samantha Allen, Taylor Lorenz and Kelly Weill
PARKLAND, Florida—Nikolas Cruz, the man accused of killing 17 people in a Florida high school, was a member of a “white separatist paramilitary proto-fascist organization,” the group told The Daily Beast.
Cruz, 19, is accused of opening fire inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Prior to the shooting, he trained with the Republic of Florida, the group’s captain Jordan Jereb said (as first reported by the Anti-Defamation League). The RoF seeks to create a “white ethnostate” in Florida, according to its website, a view that Cruz supposedly shared.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said Thursday evening that the claim is “not confirmed at this time” but “we are looking into that.” After previous mass shootings, the alt-right has spread disinformation online about alleged perpetrators.
“I’ve been in the same room as the guy but I don’t know the guy,” Jereb said. “I don’t know precisely what he believes. I know he knew full well he was joining a white separatist paramilitary proto-facist organization. I know he knew that much.”
Last year, an alleged school shooter in New Mexico also expressed alt-right ideology online, as The Daily Beast previously reported.
Cruz “seemed like just a normal, disenfranchised, young white man,” Jereb said.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Daily Beast
By Samantha Allen, Taylor Lorenz and Kelly Weill
PARKLAND, Florida—Nikolas Cruz, the man accused of killing 17 people in a Florida high school, was a member of a “white separatist paramilitary proto-fascist organization,” the group told The Daily Beast.
Cruz, 19, is accused of opening fire inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Prior to the shooting, he trained with the Republic of Florida, the group’s captain Jordan Jereb said (as first reported by the Anti-Defamation League). The RoF seeks to create a “white ethnostate” in Florida, according to its website, a view that Cruz supposedly shared.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said Thursday evening that the claim is “not confirmed at this time” but “we are looking into that.” After previous mass shootings, the alt-right has spread disinformation online about alleged perpetrators.
“I’ve been in the same room as the guy but I don’t know the guy,” Jereb said. “I don’t know precisely what he believes. I know he knew full well he was joining a white separatist paramilitary proto-facist organization. I know he knew that much.”
Last year, an alleged school shooter in New Mexico also expressed alt-right ideology online, as The Daily Beast previously reported.
Cruz “seemed like just a normal, disenfranchised, young white man,” Jereb said.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Daily Beast
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