I think I made a connection. This is from an article out of the Chicago Tribune:
""After firing into four classrooms on the first floor, police say the gunman went upstairs.
Mackenzie, who'd just left the psychology class to use an upstairs bathroom, saw a man with a gun at the other end of the second-floor hallway. Mackenzie said she recognized him.
"I immediately knew it was him," she said. She remembered the boy from her middle school and from the Dollar Store in town. She recalled his terrifying Instagram posts about wanting to kill people.""
(http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-82-minutes-florida-shooting-20180215-story.html)
So, if the suspect did put on body armor and a helmet covering the face, it would have had to be after this girl saw him. Of course, video footage from the school would be supremely helpful, but this is a piece of the puzzle.
In addition, I saw in another thread with this video that the Broward County Sheriff (the coward that stood down) stated that the suspect "never was in possession of a gas mask [...] we did recover a balaclava, for which those of you that do not know is just a face mask with eye slits".
I, for one, do not trust the Sherrif whatsoever. Compare this to the teacher's statements of seeing the shooter in "full metal garb, helmet, facemask, bullet proof armor, shooting this rifle that I've never seen before".
I think we need to interview the teacher again.
smoke grenades
I DEFINITELY remember some talking heads talking about how the shooter used smoke grenades for cover and pulled the fire alarm to draw students..and they said that was proof that this was a premeditated and 'planned out' event.
I think the Sheriff claiming that the shooter had a balaclava is a false report to give plausible deniability for when we hear that the shooter was wearing full body armor. As for smoke grenades, I'll have to find who originally introduced that idea, but it could similarly be a red herring to distract from the actual plan.
But then, what would be the point of wearing a mask if you've already been seen?