“They would say he would be the one to shoot up the school. Everyone predicted it.”

After the shooting on Wednesday, Mr. Gard said that several students told him that Mr. Cruz was taken with a girl at Douglas High School “to the point of stalking her.”

In the interview with the Miami news station, the student said Mr. Cruz was a junior at Douglas High School when he was expelled last year. He said that students would joke that if anyone were to open fire inside the school, it would be Mr. Cruz. Because of that, students feared him and mostly stayed away from him, the student said.

“A lot of people were saying that it would be him,” the student told WFOR-TV. “They would say he would be the one to shoot up the school. Everyone predicted it.”…

Ms. Pasciolla said that the boys’ mother, Lynda Cruz, had regular problems with their behavior. On occasion, she said, the mother would resort to calling the police to have them come over to try to talk some sense into her sons.