There are still bodies at the school, Broward sheriff says

The bodies of some victims of Wednesday’s shooting at a Broward high school still remain inside the school’s facilities, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said Thursday.

“There are some bodies that are still in the school,” Israel said at a press conference held near Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. “It is a process.”

The case is being investigated by the FBI, the state police (FDLE) and Broward officers.

“Right now the focus of the FBI and the Broward Sheriff’s Office is on the successful prosecution of this killer and we are not going to leave any stone unturned,” Israel said. “We are trying to process this as quickly as we can.”

The identities of the victims have not yet been made public by authorities. Israel said that the relatives of the 17 dead had been notified. Another 15 people were injured.

The shooting occurred shortly before dismissal time at the school, which has more than 3,000 students. A former student who had been expelled entered with a semiautomatic rifle AR-15 and fired indiscriminately, according to the authorities.

The alleged attacker has been identified as 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz.

The massacre is the worst school shooting in Florida and the third deadliest shooting at a school in the United States.

Israel also said that police officers have had to go to other schools in response to false alarms about shootings.

“We will respond to each of the threats, we will not treat it as a false alarm,” Israel said. He added that the authorities will investigate every false alarm call and will punish those who made them with the full weight of the law.

This story was originally published February 15, 2018 at 2:12 PM with the headline "There are still bodies at the school, Broward sheriff says."