Florida School Shooting Suspect Nick Cruz Was ‘Creepy and Weird,’ Survivors Say

Nicolas Cruz, 19, was reportedly identified by law-enforcement sources as the suspected gunman who attacked Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Wednesday.

Cruz was taken into police custody following the shooting that killed at least 17 people—leaving traumatized students to recover with their families, and grieve for their fallen friends.

The teens who knew Cruz at Morgan High were stunned. They described Cruz as an awkward “outcast”—someone who had trouble fitting in at Douglas High. But they never saw a mass murderer in the making.

“I knew him to be passive aggressive but not violent. He was rude to people. He had an act up like he was tough. He never got into like physical fights with anyone but he did get into verbal arguments,” 17-year-old Ocean Parodie told The Daily Beast. “I just thought he dropped out of school, I didn't think he would do anything. He always kept a low profile.”

"He was definitely not accepted at our school socially. People saw him as someone who was different than the normal people at our school. At our school we have something called the Emo Gazebo. That's where all the kids that are considered weird or not accepted sat. Kids at the Emo Gazebo didn't even accept him there. He was just an outcast," Parodie added.

"He always had his hair short. He always wore like really patriotic shirts that seemed really extreme, like hating on the Islamic religion. For example, he would say things such as like, he would degrade islamic people as terrorists and bombers. I've seen him wear a Trump hat. I don't know if he ever said anything about women. He didn't have any friends," he said.

"Most kids ignored him at school. They pushed him off to the side as if he was garbage. He screamed in class one time. He was upset and just started yelling at the teacher. The teacher was trying to help him and he just took it the wrong way," Parodie continued.