Nikolas Cruz

• 1. Introduction

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  Nikolas Cruz told a psychologist that he chose Valentine's Day for his attack because he believed no one loved him. On the 14th of February 2018, Cruz walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where he had once been a student, and opened fire on students and staff. Seventeen people were murdered and seventeen others were injured. Afterward he escaped on foot by blending in with other students. He was arrested without incident about one hour and twenty minutes later, in nearby Coral Springs. Yet Cruz was no stranger to the adults around him. Teachers, counselors, doctors, police and federal agents had all encountered him over the years. How did a young man so thoroughly known to the system reach that day? What happened to the warnings? And why did a jury decline to send him to death row?

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• 2. An Orphaned Childhood

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  Brenda Norma Woodard gave birth to a son in Margate, Florida, on the 24th of September 1998. She was described as a career criminal and had once been arrested for trying to buy crack cocaine while pregnant with him. The identity of his biological father is unknown. The boy, named Nikolas, was placed in an orphanage soon after birth. He was adopted by Roger and Lynda Cruz. Loss followed him through childhood. Roger died at age 67 on the 11th of August 2004. Lynda died at age 68 on the 1st of November 2017, leaving Cruz fully orphaned three months before the shooting. He then lived with relatives and friends. His birth mother died on the 23rd of August 2021. The record of his teenage years is not all trouble. He joined the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps and earned several awards. CNN reported one for "maintaining an A grade in JROTC and Bs in other subjects". He also belonged to the school's varsity air rifle team. When the shooting happened, he was enrolled in a GED program and held a job at a local Dollar Tree.

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• 3. A Troubled School Record

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  Preschool is where the behavioral problems first appeared, according to the record. Cruz became eligible for special education services under an individualized education program, known as an IEP. Psychiatrist Dr. Stephen E. Moskowitz diagnosed him with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. The Washington Post described him as well known to school and mental health authorities, and caught up in the process for getting students help rather than being referred to law enforcement. Cruz changed schools six times in three years. In 2014 he moved to a school for children with emotional or learning disabilities, amid reports that he had threatened other students. He came back to Stoneman Douglas two years later and was expelled in 2017 for disciplinary reasons. Because he could not be removed from the Broward County school system entirely, he was sent to an alternative placement. Teachers received an email warning about his threats, and he was banned from carrying a backpack on campus. Psychiatrists had recommended involuntary admission to a residential treatment facility as early as 2013. In September 2016, the Florida Department of Children and Families investigated Snapchat posts in which he cut both his arms and said he planned to buy a gun. A school resource officer suggested an involuntary psychiatric examination under the Baker Act, and two guidance counselors agreed. A mental institution did not. State investigators noted depression, autism, ADHD and a history of suicide attempts, though psychologist Frederick M. Kravitz later testified that Cruz was never diagnosed with autism. The investigators judged him at low risk of harming himself or others. A school district review, reviewed by several news outlets in August 2018, described one more missed chance. A year before the shooting, as his grades fell, Cruz met education specialists with his mother. They suggested Cross Creek School in Pompano Beach, where he had done well. He refused, wanting to graduate with his class. He was told he would lose special education services if he stayed, which was incorrect. After he withdrew for failing grades, he asked to go to Cross Creek, but a new assessment was required first, and the request was denied.

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• 4. Online and Armed

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  Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel called Cruz's online profiles "very, very disturbing". They held photographs and posts of him with long knives, a shotgun, a pistol and a BB gun. Police said accounts thought to be his carried racist and anti-Muslim slurs. One YouTube comment linked to him read "I wanna die Fighting killing shit ton of people". Cruz admired earlier mass shooters and regularly researched famous attacks, reading about them and watching documentaries. In a private Instagram group chat, CNN reported, he voiced racist, antisemitic, xenophobic and homophobic views and often discussed his weapons. At one point he wrote, "I think I am going to kill people", though he later said he was joking. Police recovered gun magazines at the scene with swastikas carved into them. Classmates described a young man whom everyone seemed to expect it from. One student said, "I think everyone had in their minds if anybody was going to do it, it was going to be him." Others recalled anger problems, constant jokes about guns, and boasts about killing animals. A neighbor said his mother would call the police to the house to try to get through to him. In February 2017, Cruz bought an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle from a Coral Springs gun store after passing the required background check. He had already obtained several other firearms, including at least one shotgun and several rifles. Florida law at the time allowed 18-year-olds to buy from licensed dealers. The minimum age has since been raised to 21.

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• 5. Missed Warnings

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  Sheriff Israel said his office received 23 calls about Cruz over the previous decade. A sheriff's office log obtained by CNN through a public records request showed at least 45 calls between 2008 and 2017 about Cruz, his brother or the family home combined. On the 5th of February 2016, an anonymous caller said Cruz had threatened to shoot up the school. On the 23rd of September 2016, a peer counselor told the school resource officer about his suicide attempt and his intent to buy a gun. The school said it would do a threat assessment. On the 24th of September 2017, a user named "nikolas cruz" commented on a YouTube video, "Im going to be a professional school shooter." The video's uploader reported it to the FBI. Agent Robert Lasky said the agency reviewed its databases but could not trace the person. On the 30th of November 2017, another tip warned he might be a "school shooter in the making" who collected knives and guns. The most pointed warning reached the FBI's Public Access Line on the 5th of January 2018, from someone close to Cruz. The caller described his gun ownership, his desire to kill people, his erratic behavior and the chance he might attack a school. The FBI later admitted the tip line had not followed protocol, because the information never went to the Miami Field Office, where agents would have investigated. It opened a probe into the line's operations. The sheriff's own response also drew scrutiny. Israel refused to resign and told CNN, "I've given amazing leadership to this agency", while denying responsibility for his deputies' actions. Governor Ron DeSantis removed him from office and named Gregory Tony as his replacement.

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• 6. The Road to Trial

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  The day after the shooting, Cruz appeared at his arraignment, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and was held without bond. A sheriff's affidavit said he confessed, and that he had told officers he brought extra loaded magazines hidden in a backpack. He was placed in an isolation cell on suicide watch. Lead defense counsel Gordon Weekes asked Judge Elizabeth Scherer to step aside, arguing that her earlier remarks showed bias toward the prosecution. She declined on the 26th of February 2018. On the 7th of March 2018, a grand jury indicted Cruz on 34 charges, 17 of first-degree murder and 17 of attempted first-degree murder. Prosecutors gave notice that they would seek the death penalty and said they could prove five aggravating factors. Cruz declined to enter a plea, so Judge Scherer entered not guilty for him. His defense had offered a guilty plea if death was taken off the table and repeated the offer just before it was refused. The case then wandered through side disputes. On the 13th of November 2018, Cruz allegedly attacked a jail officer who had asked him not to drag his sandals, and he grabbed the officer's stun gun, which discharged in the struggle. On the 24th of April 2019, Cruz and his half-brother Zachary were found to share an insurance payout of $864,929. That made Cruz ineligible for a public defender, and the office asked to leave the case. In August 2019, his confession and the school district's report were released. TMZ published the confession video, in which Cruz can be heard crying and saying "kill me". The trial, first set for the 27th of January 2020, was pushed back and then delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Before it began, Judge Scherer barred derogatory words for Cruz but allowed terms such as "killer" and "murderer". On the 20th of October 2021, Cruz pleaded guilty to every charge, said he was remorseful and asked the victims' families to decide his fate.

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• 7. The Sentencing Trial

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  The jury hearing began on the 18th of July 2022, with only one question left: death or life in prison. On the 27th of July, prosecutors showed jurors an 18-page list of search queries from Cruz's Google accounts, including searches about becoming a school shooter. Prosecutors rested on the 4th of August. On the 20th of August, the Sun Sentinel released drawings Cruz made in prison in May, in which he blamed his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend for driving him to attack. The defense argued that Cruz had brain damage and disabilities from his birth mother's drinking, smoking and drug use during pregnancy. It also argued that the state, the school and others had failed to get him proper treatment. Cruz himself alleged that a twelve-year-old neighbor molested and raped him at age nine. A prosecution expert testified in rebuttal that Cruz had faked fetal alcohol syndrome in a psychiatric evaluation. The expert diagnosed him with antisocial and borderline personality disorder. The defense rested on the 14th of September. The rebuttal ran from the 27th to the 29th of September, with search histories showing interests in child pornography, rape, Nazism and killing animals. Closing arguments came on the 11th of October. On the 13th of October 2022, jurors recommended life without parole. They found that the state had proven every aggravating factor, but they were not unanimous that those outweighed the mitigating factors. On the 2nd of November 2022, Cruz received 34 consecutive life sentences without parole, one for each person he murdered or wounded.

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• 8. Aftermath

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  Nearly all the families of the murdered victims reacted with anger and deep disappointment. In their victim impact statements, they said Cruz deserved death. They also criticized what they saw as improper conduct by his lawyers during the trial. Some objected to Florida's rule that a jury must be unanimous to impose a death sentence, rather than acting by majority. Governor Ron DeSantis also criticized the recommendation and called for the law to change. In April 2023, he signed a bill allowing juries to recommend death on an 8-4 vote, among other measures. A final legal chapter closed in June 2024, when Cruz settled a civil lawsuit with shooting victim Anthony Borges. The settlement gave Borges the rights to Cruz's name. Cruz therefore cannot give interviews or strike deals with film producers or authors without Borges's permission. Borges's lawyer said the aim was to take away Cruz's power and control, so he "cannot inflict further torture on his victims from jail". In the same settlement, Cruz agreed to donate his brain to science after his death.

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