TEHRAN,Young Journalists Club (YJC) -A troubled teen with alleged ties to a white supremacist group confessed Thursday to murdering 17 people at his former high school in Florida, as the FBI admitted it had received a tip-off about the 19-year-old gunman yet failed to stop him.
As Americans reeled from the country's worst school massacre since the horror at Sandy Hook six years ago, US President Donald Trump suggested the root cause of the violence was a crisis of mental health -- and defied calls to address gun control.
Terrified students hid in closets and under desks on Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, texting for help as the gunman, Nikolas Cruz, stalked the school with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle.
Cruz has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, appearing Thursday afternoon before a judge who ordered him held without bond.
After being read his legal rights, "Cruz stated that he was the gunman who entered the school campus armed with a AR-15 and began shooting students that he saw in the hallways and on the school grounds," court documents showed.
Cruz also admitted he discarded his rifle -- which he bought legally in Florida -- and tactical gear in order to blend in with the crowd to flee the campus, the documents showed.
Source:Press TV