<Tr> <Th> Perpetrator </Th> <Td> Nikolas Cruz </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Charges </Th> <Td> 17 counts of first - degree murder 17 counts of attempted first - degree murder </Td> </Tr> <P> A school shooting occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Broward County, Florida, part of the Miami metropolitan area, on February 14, 2018 . Seventeen people--fourteen students and three staff members--were fatally shot and seventeen others were wounded, making the shooting one of the deadliest school massacres . After being identified by witnesses and arrested by the Broward County Sheriff's Office shortly afterward, 19 - year - old Nikolas Cruz confessed to being the perpetrator . He was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder . Police and prosecutors have not yet offered a motive and are investigating "a pattern of disciplinary issues and unnerving behavior". The massacre surpassed the 1999 Columbine High School massacre as the deadliest high school shooting in American history . </P> <P> The sheriff's office received a number of tips in 2016 and 2017 about Cruz's threats to carry out a school shooting . The Federal Bureau of Investigation learned that a YouTube user with the username "nikolas cruz" posted a message in September 2017 about becoming a school shooter, but the agency could not identify the user . In January 2018, a direct complaint of a death threat by Cruz was not forwarded to the local FBI office by the FBI tip line . </P>

Where is the high school shooting in florida