New York Daily News

I bullied my bro, the HS mass killer

- Elizabeth Elizalde

THE YOUNGER brother of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz said he bullied the future murder suspect sometimes, and his sibling was a “very fragile person.”

Zachary Cruz, 18, told the Palm Beach Post he was “too hard” on his brother.

“(Nikolas) is a very fragile person and my mom was always there for him,” he said.

Nikolas Cruz, 19, is charged with 17 counts of first-degree murder in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14.

Since their adoptive parents died, the brothers had been living in separate homes. But Zachary Cruz remembered they used to be close when they lived together.

“We got along in the household, we would go out and hang at the pool, walk the dogs, and we used to do normal brother stuff together at home,” he told the newspaper.

Zachary Cruz was arrested March 19 for trespassin­g on the grounds of Marjory Stoneman. He told deputies he was there to “reflect” on the school shooting, officials said. He was arrested again for a probation violation on May 3.

On Friday, a Florida judge granted Zachary Cruz’s probation relocation to Virginia.

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