Paula McMahon, Tonya Alanez and Lisa J. HuriashContact Reporters

Sun Sentinel

8/6/18      Interview with Nikolas Cruz  – Parkland Shooter

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He also said the voice kept him from feeling lonely and agreed it was like an imaginary friend.

Though a doctor at a local hospital had medically cleared Cruz to be interviewed by investigators, he said several times that he couldn’t remember basic facts like his phone number and where he had stayed the night before.

At one point, he asked to see a psychologist and said he had never seen one before, though other records indicate he had received mental health counseling and treatment in the past.

Cruz said he tried to kill himself at least twice in the months and years before the massacre. On the first occasion, he said he was lonely and binged on vodka, tequila and wine.

Depressed after his mother’s death, he said he attempted suicide again two months before the shooting. He said he took a large dose of over-the-counter drugs, including ibuprofen and Advil. He survived both attempts, he said.

“Cool looking,” Cruz said when the detective asked him why he bought the legally purchased AR-15 rifle he used in the attack at the school. The gun cost about $560. The ammunition, he said, he bought online. He estimated he had spent about $4,000 on his guns and ammunition. Cruz worked at a dollar store and had inherited some money from his mom.

He bought his first gun when he was 18, stating that it was to protect himself “from the voice,” which he claimed told him to cut himself and to kill himself. Cruz said he had gotten in trouble, but hadn’t been prosecuted, for shooting at a chicken with his pellet gun when he was about 13.

Cruz also spoke about a girl, Emily, who he said was the only girlfriend he ever had: “She was the love of my life.” After the brief relationship with Emily, he said he’d had other dates, but “I scared them,” Cruz said. “I don’t know why I scare them.”

Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer examined the entire confession before ruling that most of it could be made public without any negative effect on Cruz’s right to a fair trial.

His defense team declined to comment on his confession on Monday. They have publicly acknowledged that he is guilty and repeatedly said he is offering to plead guilty in exchange for multiple life terms in prison, which would avoid the need for a trial. State prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

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One more more time, reporters, you tell us he tried to kill himself. What hospital treated him?  Records indicate he got ‘counseling’. Where? For how long? Was he on medication? Why not? Tell us the name of the hospital administrator for the specific hospital and let us hear from the administrator regarding the hospital’s stated procedure for releasing suicidal and mentally ill patients. Do they keep them for three days, give them fluids, vitamins a pat on the hand and send them home? Tell us the exact procedure and protocol. Tell exactly and in detail why it is you should not be fired and why, in detail, your hospital should not be shut down.

You want to report some news? Report on that news.

Miami Herald

Parkland shooter’s mom hated Trump. When she died, he put a Trump hat in her casket

BY DAVID OVALLE AND

NICHOLAS NEHAMAS

DECEMBER 20, 2018 05:35 PM,

UPDATED JANUARY 07, 2019 05:37 P

MARKING ONE YEAR SINCE THE MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING

Second Parkland Shooting Survivor Dies by Suicide: Report

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Thank you, thank you – David Ovalle and Nicholas Nehamas for telling us absolutely everything about the Parkland high school shooter that we don’t need to know. Thank you for all the interviews with people who have a lot of emotional reactions to this event but no power to do anything about it.

Now, you want to be some real journalists and tell us something we do need to know? You want to help ‘the people’ cope with this?

Tell us where it was that Nickolas Cruz went when he attempted suicide the first and second time. Tell us whether or not he was put under psychiatric observation at the hospital. What was the name of the hospital? If he was not put under a psych hold, why not? Who is the hospital administrator who allowed a person like this back on the streets? What is the official position of the hospital in cases like this? If the spokesperson for the hospital says “No comment” please report that there is no comment. Don’t give us give one more word, not one more word from an investigating cop who interviewed Cruz and said, “I don’t think he was hearing voices.”

I want to hear from the psychiatrist who interviewed Cruz at the hospital and said he was okay to go and live independently. Who was that guy/gal? I want a name. If there was no psych who interviewed Cruz, why not? Give us the name of that doctor who released him from the hospital. Have the hospital PR people give us the very interesting explanation and basis for letting this young man go. Why, if he was hearing voices (schizophrenia) and clearly a danger to himself (then others) was he not put in a psych hospital? Was it the almighty dollar? These are the things we really want to know.  If the hospital won’t release names; let the lawsuits fly.

Give us the name of the administrator of the hospital where he was seen, tell us how much money that person makes. Let the people who make the money and make the decisions about how people like Nikolas Cruz are to be handled, stand up and take a bow. Let us hear from them and their twisted explanations for how and why this happened. If they refuse to be interviewed, tell us that.

I don’t have all the facts unfortunately, but I am sure a little bit of journalistic digging would undercover the facts. We had yet another untreated schizophrenic on the streets with a gun. Now seventeen high school students are dead and two more from survivors guilt. Let the people who should bear the burden of guilt for what happened come forward. Oh, and that includes the superintendent of schools. Why was there no follow up with this student after he was kicked out of school? Is the philosophy – thank God we are rid of that one. My hands are clean. News flash – your hands are not clean, they are in fact, very, very dirty.

 

 

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