PARKLAND SHOOTER BRAGS ABOUT MURDER IN VIDEOS
Goal is to kill at least 20 people with AR-15, shooter says in one video
THE teen charged with shooting 17 people dead at his former high school in Parkland, Florida, boasted of plans to commit mass murder in a series of cellphone videos recorded by him before the rampage and released on Wednesday by prosecutors.
In one of the three video clips, Nikolas Cruz, 19, calmly declares, “Hello. My name is Nik and I’m going to be the next school shooter of 2018.” He goes on to say: “My goal is to kill at least 20 people with an AR-15,” referring to the assault-style rifle he is seen holding in the footage.
Brandishing the rifle at another point, Cruz says: “You’re all going to die,” adding with a chuckle, “Can’t wait.”
The video clips were part of an inventory of prosecution evidence recently shared with the defence team during the pre-trial discovery process, said Constance Jones-Simmons, a spokesman for the Broward County state attorney’s office.
She said the Miami Herald and other media outlets obtained copies through a public records request after seeing mention of the footage in court documents.
The three videos, none longer than 90 seconds in duration, are believed to have been made a short time before the shooting rampage on Feb 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, but Jones-Simmons said she did not know precisely when they were recorded.
In one video, Cruz said his former classmates thought he was “an idiot and a dumbass”. He also professed his love for a girl he mentioned only by first name, and said he hoped to see her in the “afterlife”.
The gun seen in the video is apparently the rifle authorities said Cruz legally purchased from a licensed gun dealer last year and used as the murder weapon.
Cruz, a former Stoneman Douglas student expelled for disciplinary problems, had been described by former classmates as a social misfit and trouble-maker who was fascinated with guns.