Suspect’s rifle team got support from NRA
Teammate: Cruz talked often about guns, knives
The troubled teen who authorities say killed 17 people at a Florida high school excelled in an air-rifle marksmanship program supported by a grant from the National Rifle Association Foundation, part of a multimillion-dollar effort by the gun group to support youth shooting clubs and other programs.
Nikolas Cruz, 19, was wearing a maroon shirt with the logo from the Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when he was arrested Wednesday. Former JROTC cadets told The Associated Press that Cruz was a member of the small varsity marksmanship team.
“He was a very good shot,” said Aaron Diener, 20, who gave Cruz a ride to shooting competitions when they were part of the same four-member team in 2016. “He had an AR-15 he talked about, and pistols he had shot. … He would tell us, ‘Oh, it was so fun to shoot this rifle’ or ‘It was so fun to shoot that.’ It seemed almost therapeutic to him, the way he spoke about it.”
The JROTC marksmanship program used air rifles special-made for target shooting.
Records show that the Stoneman Douglas JROTC program received $10,827 in non-cash assistance from the NRA’S fundraising and charitable arm in 2016, when Cruz was on the squad.
A spokeswoman for the NRA declined to comment on Friday. The top officers of the foundation are all current or former executives of the NRA.
The more than 1,700 high school JROTC programs nationally also receive financial support from the U.S. military and are typically supervised by retired officers. The military collaborates with school systems on the training curriculum, which includes marching drills, athletic competitions and shooting teams.
Peter Mahmood, the retired Army major who supervises the JROTC program at Stoneman Douglas, did not respond to messages left by phone and at his home.
Authorities say Cruz, who was expelled last year for disciplinary reasons, walked into his former school with an AR-15 and opened fire. He is charged with 17 counts of murder.
Former cadets say they were surprised the awkward teen they remember now stands accused of slaughtering students and staff. But, in retrospect, there were signs of trouble.
Kyle Ramos, who was the executive officer of the JROTC battalion, said Cruz spoke about guns and knives incessantly and liked to wear military-style clothing to school.
“He told me he would attack little animals with pellet guns and stuff, and I was a little weirded out by that,” said Ramos, now 20. “Like squirrels and lizards and stuff.”