![]() Others said it’s frightening that Zachary Cruz admitted trespassing on the school campus three times since the massacre. “I’m not worried about the Cruz family, ” said Chris Donnelly, 17, a junior. Zachary Cruz, 18, was booked into the Broward Main Jail Monday, the same jail where his older brother is locked up.Īt least one student at the school Tuesday said he thought the bail amount was excessive. The rule generally requires that a felony defendant go to trial within 175 days of arrest unless it's waived.Ĭruz, 19, is charged with 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the Februschool shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fl.Ĭruz's attorney has said he would plead guilty if guaranteed life without parole, but prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. The hearing is expected to deal with several procedural issues possibly including setting an initial trial date and Cruz's public defender possibly ask to waive Florida's speedy trial rule. Standing to the left of Cruz is his attorney Assistant Public Defender Melisa McNeill. _Īssociated Press writer Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz walks back in court in front of The Broward County Public Defender's office urged Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer for a hearing to move forward the death penalty case Friday afternoon, April 27, 2018, in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. Their mother died less than four months before the shooting. Zachary now lives in Virginia with two benefactors. In the coming weeks, Cruz’s attorneys are expected to present testimony about his transfer to a school for students with emotional and behavioral problems, his time at Stoneman Douglas and call his brother to the stand. Cruz stood up, walked outside and jumped clothed into the pool. She said Lynda Cruz complained Nikolas wouldn’t bathe, so Forrest tried to explain to him the importance of hygiene. That’s what brought case manager Tiffany Forrest to the home. Lynda Cruz became so overwhelmed in Cruz’s early teens, a social services agency was assigned to help. At middle school, his outbursts disrupted classes and he plastered his homework with racist slurs, swastikas, obscenities and stick figures having sex or shooting each other. When his dog died after eating a poisonous toad, he went on a killing spree against the amphibians. When he was 9, a parent called police after he hit her child in the head with a rock. She sometimes locked his video game console in her car as punishment - and Cruz at least once broke a window to get it back.īut Cruz’s behavior was often strange and sometimes violent. He loved online, often violent video games, but hated losing - that’s what caused him to destroy TVs and damage walls. Cruz’s mental health treatments weren’t fully covered by insurance. In either case, she had expenses other parents didn’t. She padlocked the refrigerator so her sons couldn’t eat without permission and kept it so poorly stocked neighbors gave her groceries.įriends gave conflicting testimony over whether Lynda Cruz really was financially strapped or had wealth she didn’t want to spend. One friend said her monthly electric bill was $80, a fraction of what the owner of a large South Florida home typically pays. Unemployed, she became paranoid about spending, keeping her air conditioners’ thermostats in the 80s (25 to 30 Celsius) and unplugging unused appliances. That left Lynda Cruz alone in her mid-50s with two sons who would have challenged a much younger couple. Nikolas started seeing psychiatrists and psychologists at age 3 and didn’t fully talk or become potty trained until 4.Īt 5, just as Cruz entered kindergarten, he witnessed his father suffer a fatal heart attack in the family’s den. He was anxious, fell when he ran and couldn’t use utensils. Neighbors and teachers testified he hit and bit other children and didn’t socialize. ![]() She was just the happiest I ever saw.”īut by preschool, Cruz showed extreme behavior. She would go and get him all these sailor outfits. So once she got Nikolas, she felt like her family was complete,” friend Trish Davaney-Westerlind testified. Lynda Cruz “had wanted a child, always wanted a child. Roger Cruz, then 61, owned a successful marketing business. Lynda Cruz, who turned 50 shortly after adopting Nikolas, was a stay-at-home mom. ![]() They adopted Nikolas at birth in 1998 and, in 2000, Zachary, who had a different birth father. The defense wants to show that from Cruz’s birth to a hard-drinking, crack-smoking Fort Lauderdale prostitute, he never fully received needed help even as he grew increasingly out of control.Īnd nowhere was that more apparent than in the home Roger and Lynda Cruz built in Parkland, an upscale Fort Lauderdale suburb.
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