The alleged gunman in the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., on Wednesday had ties to a white supremacist group, the Anti-Defamation League said.
The ADL said Thursday Republic of Florida leader Jordan Jereb told them Nikolas Cruz, 19, was associated with his group.
Jereb said Cruz joined the group through another member and had participated in one or more Republic of Florida training exercises in the Tallahassee area. Law enforcement officials have not said whether they’ve confirmed the link.
Jereb told the ADL his group did not tell nor want Cruz to do anything like the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead.
Jereb admitted to the Daily Beast that someone in his group purchased a rifle for Cruz.
“I think somebody bought him a Mosin-Nagant, but that’s bolt action,” he said. “He had a semi-automatic in the school. He may have buried it in his survival cache. We encourage members to do that.”
On its website, Republic of Florida describes itself as “a white civil rights organization fighting for white identitarian politics.”
As the investigation wore on Thursday, it became less clear if Cruz was linked to the Republic of Florida, as police could not find any links between the two.
“We are still doing some work but we have no known ties between the ROF, Jordan Jereb or the Broward shooter,” Leon County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Grady Jordan told the Tallahassee Democrat.
Cruz’s former classmates told the Daily Beast the suspected gunman wore a “Make America Great Again” hat in school. Cruz’s Instagram account features a photo of him wearing the hat and a red, white and blue bandana over his face, the news outlet reported.
“He always wore like really patriotic shirts that seemed really extreme, like hating on the Islamic religion. For example, he would say things such as like, he would degrade islamic people as terrorists and bombers. I’ve seen him wear a Trump hat,” 17-year-old Ocean Parodie said.
Cruz is in police custody and has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
