SLAY SUSPECT FACES JUDGE
Pair who took him in: He said he’s sorry
Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz was in court for the first time yesterday for a procedural hearing — showing little to no emotion.
Cruz said nothing at the hearing in Broward County Circuit Court, the first he attended in person and not via teleconference from jail.
He kept his head down and did not appear to make eye contact with the judge or others in the courtroom, though he responded briefly to someone on the defense team at the end of the hearing.
The hearing concerned the rules going forward of how documents would be sealed. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer said she was in favor of openness whenever possible.
Cruz is charged with killing 17 people and wounding many others in Wednesday’s shooting attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. — which he formerly attended.
His lawyers have said he will plead guilty if prosecutors agree not to pursue the death penalty. No decision has been made on that.
Meanwhile, the couple who took in Cruz after his mother died said he told them he was sorry after the shooting.
Speaking yesterday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” James and Kimberly Snead said they’ve only seen Cruz once since the shooting that killed 17 when they briefly saw him at the police station.
Kimberly Snead said she yelled at him and “really wanted to strangle him more than anything.”
The couple said Cruz told them he was sorry.
The Sneads also said the person who’s been shown to the world since the shootings isn’t the person they knew when he lived with them. They said Cruz was polite and followed their rules.
They said their hearts go out to all grieving loved ones of the 17 killed.
“We’re devastated, and I can’t imagine the pain they must be feeling, but we’re very sorry they had this experience,” said Kimberly Snead. “It never should have happened.”
“Nothing I can say will heal them,” James Snead said. “We hurt for them deeply.”
“He was very polite, he seemed normal,” he added of Cruz.
“We knew he had one Instagram account . ... The other ones he had, we had no idea about.”
The couple were also unaware that he may have been cruel to animals.