Social Media Accounts Paint 'Disturbing' Picture
Shooter made gun-related and racist posts and reportedly had ties to white supremacists
On social media, Nikolas Cruz did not appear to be a peaceful man. He made quite clear his desire to perpetrate the exact type of violence of which he now stands accused.
Before he allegedly committed one of the worst mass shootings in US history at a Parkland, Florida, high school on Wednesday, Police officials say Cruz wrote social media posts so threatening he was reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
He hurled slurs at blacks and Muslims, and according to the Anti-Defamation League, had ties to white supremacists. He said he would shoot people with his AR-15 and singled out police and anti-fascist protesters as deserving of his vengeance. Just five months ago, he stated his aspiration to become a “professional school shooter.” Yet on the morning of the massacre, the family that took the 19-year-old into their home didn't notice anything terribly strange about the young man's behaviour, the family's attorney said on Thursday. The only thing abnormal was that he didn't get up for his adult GED class. Normally, the father would take him to class on the way to work, but when they tried to wake Cruz up Wednesday, he said something like, “It's Valentine's Day. I don't go to school on Valentine's Day,” according to the lawyer. “They just blew it off," attorney Jim Lewis said. “This is some 19-year-old that didn't want to get up and go to school that day, and (they) left it at that.”
The family took Cruz in last year after his adoptive mother died. Cruz was depressed, Lewis said. The family's son knew Cruz, so they opened their home, got him into a GED class and helped him get a job at a Dollar Tree, the lawyer said.
“He seemed to be doing better,” Lewis said. Before the mass shooting that left 17 adults and children dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Cruz had exchanged texts with the son, who was a student there. Lewis characterised the texts as, “How you doing? What's going on? Yo, you coming over later? That kind of stuff. Nothing to indicate anything bad was going to happen.” Cruz had a gun. The family knew that, but they had established rules. He had to keep it in a lockbox in his room. Cruz had the key to the lockbox, the attorney said. “This family did what they thought was right, which was take in a troubled kid and try to help him, and that doesn't mean he can't bring his stuff into their house. They had it locked up and believed that that was going to be sufficient, that there wasn't going to be a problem. Nobody saw this kind of aggression or motive in this kid, that he would ever do anything like this,” Lewis said. Cruz's digital footprint
Cruz's social media posts paint what Israel called a “very, very disturbing” picture.
Israel said Cruz's digital profile contains troubling content that included a variety of gun- and violence-related posts on social media. A user going by the name of Nikolas Cruz also included slurs against blacks and Muslims in his posts.
A law enforcement source said authorities are aware of Cruz's extremist views on social media. The investigation is in early stages and so they are gathering information. One question for investigators is whether Cruz simply espoused extremist views and used related language or was in fact tied to any groups.
Cruz's disturbing behaviour also included several threatening comments under videos on YouTube and other sites. They include: “I whana shoot people with my AR-15.” “I wanna die Fighting killing s**t ton of people.” “I am going to kill law enforcement one day they go after the good people.” In September, a YouTube user going by Nikolas Cruz posted a comment to a vlogger's YouTube page, saying, “Im going to be a professional school shooter.”
A law enforcement official confirms the FBI received a report about the post.
A law enforcement official told CNN earlier on Thursday the FBI had received two reports regarding potential threats from the shooter. But later Thursday, a separate law enforcement official said authorities believe they only received one report, regarding the comment on YouTube.
The investigation is in its early stages, the source said, and information could change as leads are investigated. On his Instagram page, Cruz posted a photo of a shotgun. In another photo he brandishes what appears to be a BB gun.
Police say Cruz was armed with multiple magazines and at least one AR-15 style rifle. The suspected shooter bought the firearm in the past year and had passed the background check to make the purchase, according to a US official briefed on the investigation. His host family knew nothing of his social media activity, Mr Lewis said.
“They're not social media people. They're parents. They're just not that kind of folks. And he's an adult, and they tried to help him. But did they check up on him and follow him every minute of every day? They didn't, because they didn't see any of the signs that would indicate that there was anything really amiss, that he was capable of something violent,” he said.