Assistant principal remembers MSD gunman was linked to swastikas vandalism, records show

Authorities release 100-page document in BSO probe of Valentine's Day massacre

FORT LAUDERDALE – Before he was accused of killing 17 people, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School gunman was suspended over swastikas and racial slurs found on a table at the school cafeteria, according to records of the Broward Sheriff's Office investigation that authorities released on Friday. 

When two Broward Sheriff's Office detectives questioned him in May, that is what Assistant Principal Winfred Porter remembered about Nicholas Cruz, whom he remembered as otherwise reserved and respectful. 

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Winfred Porter was working at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when the Valentine's Day massacre happened.

Porter said he recorded the referral on the Discipline Management System, or DMS, but the record "goes away at the end of the year." The transcript doesn't of the interview doesn't mention if deputies were able to confirm his account. 

Detectives asked Porter to recall what he was doing during the Valentine's Day massacre in Parkland. Porter said he was in the front office when the fire alarm went off. He walked to the fire alarm room, and the alert system indicated there was gas coming from the school's 1200 building. 

Porter said he used his school radio to alert others there was a need to evacuate the school, and he also used the intercom to announce it. But then, he said, he heard Coach Elliott Bonner call for a "code red lock down."

Porter said he silenced the fire alarm and used the intercom to announce the change of plans. Bonner, who is a campus monitor, later told him he was outside of the 1200 building. Porter rushed to guide students and a parent to seek shelter. 

"I pulled them down, moved them into a room down the hallway. I went around and secured the doors," Porter said, according to the transcript. "I saw two deputies in the front office."

When he was at the 100 building, Porter said he heard a noise that sounded like firecrackers and later he realized they had been gunshots. 


About the Author:

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.