As more details come out regarding the horrific school shooting in Parkland, Florida, another important fact has come out: The shooter was a former student who was known to be a threat.

The Miami Herald is reporting that Nikolas Cruz, age 19, is a former student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland had been identified as a "potential threat to fellow students in the past."

In fact, Math teacher Jim Gard, said “We were told last year that he wasn’t allowed on campus with a backpack on him. There were problems with him last year threatening students, and I guess he was asked to leave campus.”

But, the Broward County School District Superintendent, Robert Runcie, told reporters that he did not know of any concerns raised about the student. He said “We received no warnings. Potentially there could have been signs out there. But we didn't have any warning or phone calls or threats that were made.”

So which one is it? The school clearly knew something was up but the administration for the district was unaware? How is this possible?

The Sheriff confirmed that Cruz had been expelled from Douglas High for “disciplinary reasons”, so clearly there had been numerous escalating incidents. Students are not usually expelled for an isolated incident.

Students had more information to share, with one saying that Cruz had previously talked about all the guns he had at home and another describing him as a "loner" whose mother had recently died.

The main question is: could this have been prevented? If so, how? Why was he able to walk into school carrying a long barrel gun? Why doesn't the school have locked doors? Doesn't the front office have to buzz students in? Where was security? Why did this disturbed man have access to guns at all?

Update:

I just added the video above of an interview with Math teacher Jim Gard. He describes the suspect as quiet, not disruptive, but someone who had trouble with girls. That seems to be a common theme across these shootings, doesn't it?