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<p>PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) &#8212; The suspect in a deadly rampage at a Florida high school is a troubled teenager who posted disturbing material on social media before the shooting spree that killed at least 17 people, according to a law enforcement official and former schoolmates. </p><p>Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said the 19-year-old suspect, Nikolas Cruz, had been expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for &#8220;disciplinary reasons.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know the specifics,&#8221; the sheriff said.</p><p>However, Victoria Olvera, a 17-year-old junior, said Cruz was expelled last school year after a fight with his ex-girlfriend&#8217;s new boyfriend. She said Cruz had been abusive to his girlfriend.</p><p>School officials said Cruz was attending another school in Broward County after his expulsion.</p><p>Broward County Mayor Beam Furr said during an interview with CNN that the shooter was getting treatment at a mental health clinic for a while, but that he hadn&#8217;t been back to the clinic for more than a year.</p><p>&#8220;It wasn&#8217;t like there wasn&#8217;t concern for him,&#8221; Furr said.</p><p>&#8220;We try to keep our eyes out on those kids who aren&#8217;t connected &#8230; Most teachers try to steer them toward some kind of connections. &#8230; In this case, we didn&#8217;t find a way to connect with this kid,&#8221; Furr said.</p><p>Israel said investigators were dissecting the suspect&#8217;s social media posts.</p><p>&#8220;And some of the things that have come to mind are very, very disturbing,&#8221; he added without elaborating.</p><p>Daniel Huerfano, a student who fled Wednesday&#8217;s attack, said he recognized Cruz from an Instagram photo in which Cruz posed with a gun in front of his face. Huerfano recalled Cruz as a shy student and remembered seeing him walking around with his lunch bag.</p><p>&#8220;He was that weird kid that you see &#8230; like a loner,&#8221; he added.</p><p>Dakota Mentcher, a 17-year-old junior, said he used to be close friends with Cruz but hadn&#8217;t seen him in more than a year following his expulsion from school.</p><p>&#8220;He started progressively getting a little more weird,&#8221; Mentcher said.</p><p>Mentcher recalled Cruz posting on Instagram about killing animals and said he had talked about doing target practice in his backyard with a pellet gun.</p><p>&#8220;He started going after one of my friends, threatening her, and I cut him off from there,&#8221; Mentcher said.</p><p>&#8220;I think everyone had in their minds if anybody was going to do it, it was going to be him,&#8221; Mentcher said.</p><p>Broward County School District Superintendent Robert Runcie told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that he did not know of any threats posed by Cruz to the school.</p><p>&#8220;Typically you see in these situations that there potentially could have been signs out there,&#8221; Runcie said. &#8220;I would be speculating at this point if there were, but we didn&#8217;t have any warnings. There weren&#8217;t any phone calls or threats that we know of that were made.&#8221;</p><p>However, a teacher told The Miami Herald that Cruz may have been identified as a potential threat to other students. Jim Gard, a math teacher who said Cruz had been in his class last year, said he believes the school had sent out an email warning teachers that Cruz shouldn&#8217;t be allowed on campus with a backpack.</p><p>&#8220;There were problems with him last year threatening students, and I guess he was asked to leave campus,&#8221; Gard said.</p><p>___</p><p>This story has been corrected to show that Dakota Mentcher, not Victoria Olvera, said, &#8220;I think everyone had in their minds if anybody was going to do it, it was going to be him.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Police and rescue vehicles are shown outside Broward Health North hospital, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018, in Deerfield Beach, Fla. A shooter opened fire at a Florida high school Wednesday, killing people, sending students running out into the streets and SWAT team members swarming in before authorities took the shooter into custody. (AP Photo/Joe Skipper)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_119813168-b841b9a818b44e5883ed4afba6cae58c.jpg</photo0><caption0>Police and rescue vehicles are shown outside Broward Health North hospital, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018, in Deerfield Beach, Fla. A shooter opened fire at a Florida high school Wednesday, killing people, sending students running out into the streets and SWAT team members swarming in before authorities took the shooter into custody. (AP Photo/Joe Skipper)</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_119813168-6d01d5ce7a98473db14f677f772a6f93.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">CORRECTS SPELLING TO MARJORY NOT MARJORIE Students are evacuated by police from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018, after a shooter opened fire on the campus. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_119813168-6d01d5ce7a98473db14f677f772a6f93.jpg</photo1><caption1>CORRECTS SPELLING TO MARJORY NOT MARJORIE Students are evacuated by police from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018, after a shooter opened fire on the campus. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)</caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_119813168-549bf0c30a884090911d1bbef8692dab.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Medical personnel tend to a victim following a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018. (John McCall/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_119813168-549bf0c30a884090911d1bbef8692dab.jpg</photo2><caption2>Medical personnel tend to a victim following a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018. (John McCall/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)</caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>

School shooting suspect made ‘disturbing’ social media posts