In a private Instagram group chat, confessed school shooter Nikolas Cruz repeatedly espoused racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic views and displayed an obsession with violence and guns.

Wednesday, 19-year-old Cruz opened fire at the school that expelled him, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Authorities say he killed 17 with his legally purchased AR-15.

CNN, investigating comments the shooter may have left on a now-deleted YouTube channel, was added to the private Instagram group by one of the active members in it. The responding group members, who appear to be younger than 18, have refused to confirm their identities to CNN on or off the record.

When asked for comment or whether they knew about the private chat group, the FBI directed CNN to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.

Most of the conversation in the group since Cruz joined around August 2017 is between six people — including Cruz.

“I hate jews, ni**ers, immigrants”
Racism was a constant theme in the chat group, which was called “Murica (American flag emoji) (eagle emoji) great” — a name it was given by Cruz.

The hatred he and others in the group espoused met little resistance from its active members. In one part of the group chat, Cruz wrote that he hated, “jews, ni**ers, immigrants.”

He talked about killing Mexicans, keeping black people in chains and cutting their necks. The statements were not made in jest.

There are hundreds of racist messages, racist memes and racist Instagram videos posted in the group.

One member even joked about Cruz’s particular venomousness, saying that although he hated black people, too, he didn’t “to a point I wanna kill the (sic) like nick.”

Cruz said he hated black people simply because they were black; Cruz hated Jews because he believed they wanted to destroy the world.

After one member expressed hatred for gay people, Cruz agreed, saying, “Shoot them in the back of head.”

White women drew Cruz’s hatred as well, specifically those in interracial relationships, whom he referred to repeatedly as traitors.

There are no indications in the group chat that any member, including Cruz, is or was part of a white nationalist or white supremacist group.

During one of the anti-Semitic rants in the chat, Cruz spoke of his birth mother, saying, “My real mom was a Jew. I am glad I never met her.”

Roger and Lynda Cruz adopted Cruz when he was a child. Roger died in 2004, and Lynda died last fall after an illness.

In his first message to the chat group, Cruz bragged about writing a letter to President Donald Trump — and receiving a response. CNN reached out to the White House for comment about any correspondence to and from Cruz but has not heard back.

Some members of the chat were worried he might have killed endangered animals.

“He seemed nice but also had some mental issues,” one member told CNN. “All (I know) is that he likes guns and really hates liberals.”