- The suspected Florida high-school shooter, Nikolas Cruz, confessed to committing the massacre on Thursday, a police report said.
- He arrived at the high school via Uber, and visited a Walmart and McDonald's after the shooting, the sheriff said.
- Cruz is being held without bond on 17 counts of premeditated murder.
- Cruz was a member of a white nationalist militia, the group's leader said Thursday.
The suspected Florida high-school shooter, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, has confessed to committing the massacre that killed 17 on Wednesday, a Broward County Sheriff's Office report said.
Sheriff Scott Israel laid out a timeline of the shooting on Thursday, telling reporters that Cruz arrived at the school around 2:19 p.m. local time via an Uber.
Cruz then entered the school carrying his legally purchased AR-15 rifle in a black, soft case, Israel said. He walked up the east stairwell, then allegedly opened fire in several classrooms before shooting another victim in the west stairwell.
According to the sheriff's report, Cruz told the officers interrogating him that he "began shooting students that he saw in the hallways and on school grounds."
After he ceased fire, Cruz then dropped his rifle and backpack with ammunition on the third floor, ran down the stairs, and exited the building, blending himself into the crowds of fleeing students, Israel said.
In an odd twist, Cruz then visited a Walmart and bought a drink at the Subway inside the Walmart, sat down for a period of time in a McDonald's, then left on foot and was arrested by local police around 3:41 p.m., according to Israel.
Cruz was ordered held without bond on 17 counts of premeditated murder in his court appearance on Thursday. Cruz's public defender, Melisa McNeill, told reporters that Cruz is remorseful for his actions and a "broken human being."
Unclear connection to a white nationalist militia
His reported confession comes as more details continue to emerge about Cruz, including that he may have been a member of a white nationalist militia.
The leader of the Republic of Florida, Jordan Jereb, told media on Thursday that Cruz had participated in at least one paramilitary drill in Tallahassee.
Jereb said the militia's goal is for Florida to become its own white ethno-state. ROF describes itself as a "white civil rights organization fighting for white identitarian politics," according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Jereb told The Associated Press his group holds "spontaneous random demonstrations" and tries not to participate in the modern world.
He added that he didn't know Cruz personally and that Cruz "acted on his own behalf of what he just did and he's solely responsible for what he just did."
Tallahassee authorities, however, told the Tallahassee Democrat that their investigations had uncovered no connections between Cruz and ROF.
But three of Cruz's former classmates told ABC News that they knew Cruz was part of ROF and they frequently saw him with Jereb.
Jereb also said Cruz had "trouble with a girl," and he believed the timing of the attack, carried out on Valentine's Day, wasn't a coincidence.
The ADL also reported Cruz's alleged affiliation with ROF on Thursday, and said the group's members had discussed on the online forum 4chan that Cruz had been a member. Jereb told ADF that Cruz had been "brought up" by another ROF member.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
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