Even Nikolas Cruz’s brother, Zachary Cruz, said he was “pleased” with the guilty plea.
Yet one of the students who himself had been shot five times by the Parkland Shooter and survived said, “I am not God to make the decision to kill him or not. That’s not my decision. My decision is to be a better person and to change the world for every kid.”
Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer will be screening prospective jurors, and expects thousands to be screened due to the case’s notoriety.
Watch the full live hearing here:
How Did Nikolas Cruz Become a Murder?
Nikolas Cruz’s attorney called him “a broken child” during an early hearing after the tragic event. The Parkland Shooter had been adopted when he was young. His adoptive father passed away years before the mass killing, but the adoptive mother became ill the Fall before the shooting and passed away, leaving him without parents once again. This ignited the trouble he had at school, characterized by the fight he’d been in with his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend, which led to his expulsion from the high school.
But the concerning behavior began much, much earlier. A classmate who had known him since elementary school, Brody Speno, explained that something “was off” and said, “Something wasn’t right about him.”
Speno remembered Nikolas getting into trouble frequently in school and at home. He recalled the police being at Nikolas’ house “almost every other week,” which was accurate as law enforcement had documented 39 times they had been called to his home during the seven years up to his shooting.
According to Speno, Nikolas Cruz used to torment animals; one time he tried to kill a squirrel by cornering it and throwing rocks at it. Speno even witnessed him throwing rocks at cars, and called him “an evil kid.”
Another acquaintance who had known him since the sixth grade explained that Nikolas used to introduce himself by saying, “I’m a school shooter.”
Fast-forward to his high school years, former friend, Dakota Mutchler reported that previous to the tragic event, Nikolas Cruz had threatened one of Dakota Mutchler’s friends and about killing animals on Instagram.
Another student, Daniel Huerfano mentioned he’d seen a photo Nikolas Cruz had posted of a gun in front of his face.
But that was only one of the chilling posts Nikolas Cruz made online. He had other photos of himself with guns and knives and he posted, “Man I can do so much better,” about a mass shooting in New York the summer before he carried out his mass shooting. One photo he posted came from the viewpoint behind the gun sight, facing out a window. Other posts included racist remarks, and a white nationalist group claimed he was a member of their group.
Nikolas Cruz even posted, “I wanna shoot people with my AR-15,” online, as well as “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.”
There were even signs observable by neighbors. One concerned neighbor reported shooting video of Nikolas Cruz using a BB gun to shoot cans, buckets, and bottles for hours in his boxers over the course of two days, about four months before the mass killing took place. At times, according to the neighbor, he would turn and point his gun toward their window.
That said, not everyone saw Nikolas Cruz as a threat. One person described him as small and thought he might be the victim of bullying. The family that took him in after his mother passed away thought he was suffering from depression, but they didn’t see him as dangerous. A former coworker called him “a little off,” but didn’t think he was dangerous.
