Escalating problems

The troubles that marked the start of Nikolas Cruz’s time at Stoneman Douglas grew even greater over time, records show.

In the span of about a week in late September 2016, Cruz experienced numerous troubling events.

He got suspended for a fight. He punched a hole in the wall at home, prompting his mother to call a therapist for help. He reportedly cut his arm with a pencil sharpener, drank gasoline and told a peer he had a gun at home and was thinking of using it, prompting state welfare workers, crisis counselors and police to respond to his home.

The JROTC program prohibited him from practicing shooting with them.

In November 2016, the district told Cruz he would have to return to Cross Creek and he refused. He’d turned 18 by then and was an adult. He revoked his status as a special-needs student and had the right to refuse such services under federal law.

Around that time, he brought bullets to school, prompting the district to conduct a “threat assessment” on him, according to handwritten notes a Douglas administrator made that were obtained by the Sun Sentinel.

By the start of the new calendar year he was disciplined for a “verbal assault” and forced to withdraw from Stoneman Douglas on February 8, 2017.

Three days later, he bought an AR-15 from a Coral Springs gun shop.

He returned to Douglas a final time one year later, walking through an open gate shortly before dismissal time with his AR-15.