Florida gunman 'visited 39 times by police in seven years' Officers attended Nikolas Cruz's home 39 times from 2010 for issues including "missing persons" and "domestic disturbance".

Image: Nikolas Cruz in court where he was charged with the murder of 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida

The teenager accused of killing 17 students and teachers in a Florida school was visited by police 39 times in seven years.

Documents seen by CNN indicate Broward Sheriff deputies responded to 39 calls from 2010 at Nikolas Cruz's family home.

He lived with his brother and their adoptive mother after the death of their adoptive father. The home was sold after the mother, Lynda Cruz, died in November.

Although many of the calls do not include a written report as a follow-up, some mention he had expressed an interest in owning a gun, Buzzfeed reports.

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Cruz's lawyer, Melissa McNeill, told reporters on Thursday that he was "sad", "mournful" and "remorseful", adding that he was a "broken human being" who was aware of what was going on.

The defence lawyer had her arm around the handcuffed 19-year-old during his first court hearing, where he was remanded in custody after being charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.

The teenager is accused of murdering 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, on the edge of the Everglades, on Wednesday afternoon.

The FBI has admitted it was warned about him in 2017 and there are claims Cruz, who was orphaned after his mother died last year, was part of a white supremacist group.

Police have said that after the shooting Cruz left his former school, from which he was expelled, and visited a Wal-Mart store before buying a drink from Subway then stopping at a McDonald's.

The 19-year-old was arrested 40 minutes later by police officer Michael Leonard after he saw someone matching the suspect's description and stopped him as he walked along a pavement.

Cruz confessed to carrying out one of the United States' deadliest school shootings, according to a sheriff's department report.

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The statement from the Broward County Sheriff's Office said the teenager told officers he "began shooting students that he saw in the hallways and on school grounds".

He "brought additional loaded magazines to the school campus and kept them hidden in a backpack until he got on campus to begin his assault", the report said.

Cruz set off the school's fire alarm to get all the students out and when they began to flee from his gunfire he discarded his AR-15 rifle and a vest so he could blend into the crowd, he told police.

The teenager, who worked for discount retailer The Dollar Tree, is believed to have had paramilitary training in Tallahassee with white supremacist group Republic of Florida - with the group's leader saying he was a member.

However, a police spokesman in Tallahassee said there were "no known ties" between the suspect and the group.

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Vigil for the Florida school dead

Its leader, Jordan Jereb, told the Daily Beast: "I'm not trying to glorify it, but he was pretty efficient in what he did.

"He probably used that training to do what he did yesterday. Nobody I know told him to do that, he just freaked out."

He added that Cruz had "trouble with a girl" and believed the timing of the attack on Valentine's Day was not a coincidence.

The FBI has begun an extensive review of how it handled an apparent tip-off about Cruz, an official said.

YouTuber Ben Bennight said he told the FBI last year about a comment on the site under Cruz's name which read: "I'm going to be a professional school shooter."

Image: Jaime Guttenberg was killed in the shooting

On Thursday night, more than 1,000 people held a vigil for the victims, and a spontaneous chant of "no more guns" broke out among the crowd.

People dressed in the school's colour - red - while some held flowers and others raised signs asking for action to fight school violence, including gun control.

Several said now was the time to talk about gun control, with one saying: "Tomorrow is too late to say something, it was too late to say something yesterday. We need to act now."

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In a news conference at the White House, Donald Trump sent his condolences to the families and friends of all of those killed and thanked those who responded to the shooting.

He raised the issue of mental health, urged students to go to teachers, parents or faith leaders to tell them when they think something is not right.

He said his top priority was to make schools safer but avoided addressing the country's gun laws.

Several victims had been publicly identified the day after the shooting, including star swimmer Nicholas Dworet, soccer player Alyssa Alhadeff, 14, basketball players Luke Hoyer, 15, and Joaquin Oliver, nicknamed Guac.

Ambitious senior Meadow Pollack, 18, trombone player Alex Schachter, 14, Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps freshman Peter Wang, 15, and Jaime Guttenberg were also killed.

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Assistant football coach and security monitor Aaron Feis, in his 30s, was killed while shielding students from bullets. Geography teacher Scott Beigel was killed as he tried to usher students back into his classroom and athletic director Chris Hixon was shot and killed.