A ‘broken child’
Shooting suspect’s spiral started after the death of his mother, defense lawyer says.
The man accused of killing 17 at a Florida high school dropped his AR-15style rifle and left the scene with terrified students, blending in to make his escape before casually walking into a nearby Walmart to get a drink.
Nikolas Cruz, 19, used the cover of fleeing students to make his way to the Walmart, where he bought a drink at a Subway restaurant in the store, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said at a news conference Thursday. Then Cruz walked to a McDonald’s, Israel said.
Israel says Cruz was confronted by a police officer and taken into custody about 40 minutes after leaving the McDonald’s. Cruz then told detectives that “he was the gunman who entered the school campus ... and began shooting students he saw in the hallways,” according to court papers filed Thursday afternoon.
“Cruz stated that he brought additional loaded magazines to the school campus and kept them hidden in a backpack until he got on campus to begin his assault,” according to an arrest affidavit.
The moments leading up to Cruz’s arrest were detailed shortly after the subdued, handcuffed 19-year-old made his first court appearance Thursday on charges of premeditated murder in the killing of 17 students and faculty at a Florida high school.
Head slightly lowered, Cruz said only “Yes, ma’am” when addressed on closed-circuit television by Judge Kim Theresa Mollica.
Mollica ordered him held without bond on 17 counts of murder. His attorney, public defender Melissa McNeill, stood with her arm around Cruz during the brief appearance and did not contest the order.
Cruz, his hands shackled at his waist, was led out of the room by deputies.
The hearing was to formally present charges in the massacre Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Cruz was booked into Broward County Jail on Thursday morning.
Authorities said Cruz triggered a fire alarm in a school building that serves freshmen students, then roamed the corridors — from the first floor to the third — firing a semiautomatic rifle at students pouring into hallways.
The 17 dead include students and adults, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said. At least 15 were injured and taken to hospitals.
Among the dead was Aaron Feis, a coach and security guard.
Counselors were available Thursday morning off-campus for the more than 3,000 students, teachers and staff at the school, which will remain closed.
Israel said Cruz had been expelled from the school for “disciplinary reasons.”
Victoria Olvera, 17, said Cruz was kicked out last year after a fight with his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend. She said Cruz had been abusive to his girlfriend.
Before Thursday’s hearing, Chief Assistant Public Defender Gordon Weekes described Cruz as a “deeply troubled child who has endured a lot of emotional trauma in a short period of time.” He said Cruz began spiraling downward after the death of his mother in November.
McNeill described Cruz, who was on suicide watch in jail, as a “broken child” who suffered brain developmental problems and depression. She said he was “sad, mournful and remorseful” over the killings. “He is fully aware of what is going on.”
Cruz’s mother, Lynda, died of pneumonia Nov. 1, according to the Broward County Sun-Sentinel. She and her husband, who died of a heart attack several years ago, adopted Nikolas and his biological brother, Zachary, after the couple moved from Long Island in New York to Broward County.
The boys were left in the care of a family friend after their mother died, said family member Barbara Kumbatovich of Long Island. Unhappy there, Nikolas Cruz asked to move in with a friend’s family in northwest Broward. The family agreed, and Cruz moved in around Thanksgiving. According to Jim Lewis, the family’s lawyer, who did not identify the family, they knew Cruz owned the rifle but made him keep it locked up in a cabinet.
“This family did what they thought was right, which was to bring in a troubled kid and try to help him out,” Lewis told CNN.