Transcript for School rampage leaves at least 17 dead
busy night. And sadly, we do begin with another horrific school shooting. A difficult night for this nation, as we have learned 17 dead after a shooting rampage inside a Florida high school. Gunfire heard inside and outside the school. It was put on lockdown. Students running for their lives. A massive show of force from law enforcement. Some of the injured treated on the sidewalk outside the school. Meantime, these images now emerging, inside the school, students hiding from the gunfire, armed S.W.A.T. Teams entering, going classroom to classroom. You can hear the students in horror. Anguished parents waiting to hear from their children. Tearful reunions when they finally reached them. At this hour, a suspect is in custody. It is believed he was a former student. His name is Nikolas Cruz. We do have team coverage, beginning with ABC’s Victor Oquendo on the scene tonight. Reporter: Tonight in Florida, Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school turned into a war zone in seconds. Just after 2:00 P.M., as students are leaving school for the day, a shooter opening fire inside. Students can be seen taking cover under a hail of gunfire, as police raced to the scene. I have the gunshot victim. He’s by the entrance on the west side of the school. All of a sudden, I hear boom, boom, boom. I hear screaming everywhere. I just got underneath my Reporter: S.W.A.T. Teams swarming the perimeter of the school. Frantically searching for the gunman. Then moving inside. Does he know where the shooter is? We don’t know, but we’re entering the building. Reporter: Officers going room by room. Run from the auditorium. Everybody down! Reporter: Students barricading themselves inside, frantically texting their parents. Be safe, mom, you stay away. What’s going through your mind right now? I’m telling her, no, Chrystal, I’m your mother, I’m not staying away. Reporter: Outside, chaos. Students seen streaming out of the building, many with hands on their heads. A sea of backpacks can be see abandoned on the ground. Paramedics rushing to treat the wounded, loading one after another onto stretchers and into ambulances. This injured person given chest compressions right there on scene. At least 14 victims treated for injuries. An hour later, at 3:00 P.M., that shooter still at large with possible description. While male, burgundy shirt, wearing a black hat and either a group of students that were running westbound. Reporter: Firefighters consoling school staff members as the shock begins to set in. Some parents reunited with the children, who managed to get out safely. Others frantically searching for those still trapped inside. We can’t get to her. We can’t get ahold of her. And you called and you texted and nothing has come back? No. Her girlfriend got shot, we heard. Reporter: One student recalling a horrifying scene inside, seeing her teacher shot. We saw his body, for, like, 30 minutes, we were just, like, praying and crying and — and then the police came and we just got out. Reporter: Just before 4:00 P.M., the 18-year-old gunman taken into custody without incident. The toll of this carnage now becoming clear. There are fatalities that are involved. We can’t confirm the number at this point. Everybody knows around here is a safe place and you don’t expect this to happen here, but then when that happens, you are just taken aback by it. Victor Oquendo live from the scene there in parkland, Florida. We know parents are still being reunited with their children? Reporter: David, it’s been more than four hours since the shooting and we’re still seeing kids walking away from the scene with backpacks on. So many parents out here, eager to see their children. You can see behind men, it’s still a very active scene. We just got the latest numbers from police. Atl least 17 people are dead tonight. 13 killed inside the school, four killed outside. And David, multiple people are in surgery. David? We are thinking of them. And Victor, while we’re looking at the pictures behind us, just describe for us the scene. We know the FBI is on the scene, local law enforcement on the scene. As the reunions take place, there were the images of the backpacks simply left out in the street, just beside the school. Reporter: David, this is a massive school, so, as you can imagine, the police presence here, the amount of law enforcement that showed up, it was an impressive show of force here. It is just a mess here, to be honest with you right now, but investigators will be working through the night to determine, give us an exact number, working through this horrible scene here tonight, David. Victor Oquendo leading us off.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
