New York Daily News

Killer’s neighbor: He chose the gun

- BY TERENCE CULLEN

A NEXT-DOOR neighbor who took in suspected Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz for a month after his mother died last year said she gave him an ultimatum in the weeks before the massacre: It’s either us or the gun. He chose the gun. “I told him that I cannot have guns or violence in my house and he would need to find another place to stay,” Roxanne Deschamps, who took in Cruz, 19, his brother Zachary and their dogs, said at a Manhattan press conference Tuesday. “I couldn’t have him living in my house and putting my family in danger. I could not live in fear in my own home.” Deschamps, 42, said Cruz went to live with a friend after the confrontat­ion, although they stayed in touch. Cops said Cruz shot and killed 14 students and three adults on Valentine’s Day at his former school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland.

 ??  ?? Cops take cover outside Great Mills High School in Maryland on Tuesday. Below left, an officer carries rifle as he works his way through a classroom.
Cops take cover outside Great Mills High School in Maryland on Tuesday. Below left, an officer carries rifle as he works his way through a classroom.
 ??  ?? Laura Dimon and Leonard Greene
Laura Dimon and Leonard Greene

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States