Nikolas Cruz confesses to police

FLORIDA, Feb 16 (BBC): The teenager accused of killing 17 people at a Florida high school on Wednesday has confessed to the shooting, police say.

Nikolas Cruz (19), said he arrived on campus and began shooting students before abandoning his weapon and escaping, according to a court document.

He has appeared in court charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.

The FBI has admitted it received a tip-off about him last year.

The attack, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, is the deadliest US school shooting since 2012.

A Reuters report adds: The 19-year-old man accused of shooting 17 people to death at a Florida high school legally purchased the assault rifle used in the killings and may have foreshadowed the attack in a social media comment investigated by the FBI last year, authorities said on Thursday.

Authorities also shed more light on how the suspect made a getaway by blending in with students fleeing the school, then casually spent more than an hour drifting through a Walmart store and visiting two fast-food outlets before he was arrested.

The tragedy in the Miami suburb of Parkland, Florida, raised questions among anguished parents about the adequacy of school security measures and renewed a national debate on Capitol Hill and elsewhere about the epidemic of gun violence in American schools.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday called for healing and peace one day after a gunman killed at least 17 people at a Florida high school, saying his administration would work to improve school safety and address mental illness.

Trump said he was making plans to meet with families in Parkland, Florida.

In televised remarks from the White House, Trump, who has an 11-year-old son, said he wanted to address America's children with the message they are "never alone and you never will be."