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A26 u.s. news
Dialuna 10 OctOber 2022

Florida school shooter may have been his own worst witness

about to happen.
He then went floor to floor,
shooting down hallways and
into classrooms, firing 140
shots in all.
“I thought they would
scream,” Cruz said about his
first three victims. He shot
them point-blank outside a
locked classroom door. “It
was more like they passed
out and blood came pouring
out of their head. It was really
nasty and sad to see.”

But he continued.
“I think I showed mercy to
three girls. I was going to
walk away, but they showed
nasty faces and I went back,”
Cruz said. “I thought they
were going to attack me.”
Cruz shot several of his vic-
tims a second time after they
fell, including his final one
— a student writhing from a
leg wound. He said the boy
“gave me a nasty look. A look
of anger.”
“His head blew up like a wa-
ter balloon,” Cruz said.

(AP) — It’s possible Flori- then that would be his sen- “It was just a thought. I was He donned the burgundy Why did cruz stop shooting?
da school shooter Nikolas tence. Closing arguments reading books,” Cruz said. “It polo shirt he received when Students and teachers fled
Cruz talked himself into a are scheduled Tuesday, with would come and go. It would he was a member of the the building or locked them-
death sentence. deliberations beginning pop up in my mind.” Stoneman Douglas Junior selves in classrooms. The
Wednesday. Reserve Officer Training third-floor hallway was now
Prosecutors played video last The thoughts would return Corps program so he could empty except for victims.
week at Cruz’s penalty trial Because Cruz’s defense is when he watched violent vid- escape by mingling with flee-
of jailhouse interviews he did that his birth mother’s heavy eos, particularly documenta- ing students. “I couldn’t find anyone to
this year with two of their drinking during pregnancy ries about mass shootings at kill,” he said. “I didn’t want
mental health experts. In left him brain damaged, pros- Colorado’s Columbine High “If I had all my (shooting) to do it anymore and I didn’t
frank and sometimes graph- ecutors could have experts School, Virginia Tech and gear on, they would have think there was anyone else
ic detail, he answered their examine him for their rebut- elsewhere, he said. called the cops,” Cruz said. in the building.”
questions about his massa- tal case.
cre of 17 people at Parkland’s How did cruz plan the mas- When he set out at 2 p.m., he He dropped his gun and vest
Marjory Stoneman Doug- Scott and Denney inter- sacre? told the Uber driver he was on the stairwell and fled. He
las High School on Feb. 14, viewed him separately for “I did my own research,” in the school orchestra and was captured an hour later —
2018 — his planning, his mo- several hours. In each, Cruz Cruz told Scott. “I studied the bag carried his instru- the police officer had been
tivation, the shootings. sat across the table, hand- mass murderers and how ment. looking for a young male in
cuffed, a sweater draped over they did it, their plans, what a Stoneman Douglas ROTC
While it can’t be known what his chest. He sometimes they got and what they used.” What did cruz do when he polo.
the 12 jurors are thinking, asked for a pen and paper to arrived?
if any are wavering between add diagrams and drawings to He detailed the lessons he “I walked through the gates. Cruz’s final say
voting for death or life with- his explanations. learned: Watch for would- Hopefully, there would be As Denney was finishing the
out parole, his statements to be rescuers coming around no security guards, but I was final interview, he asked Cruz
Dr. Charles Scott, a foren- “The question is: What will corners, keep some distance wrong,” Cruz told Scott. “I if there was anything else he
sic psychiatrist, and Robert the jury take away from the from your targeted victims, was looking at the guy and he should know. Cruz thought
Denney, a neuropsychologist, interviews? Cold-blooded attack as fast as possible — was watching me.” for 10 seconds before re-
did not help his cause. killer who was vengeful and and “the police didn’t do any- When Cruz attended Stone- sponding: “Why I chose Val-
excited about the murders, thing.” man Douglas, guards fre- entine’s Day.”
“All of this made Cruz him- or a person so hopelessly de- quently checked him for
self perhaps one of the state’s ranged that he can’t be any- “I have a small opportunity weapons because of his errat- “Because I thought no one
best witnesses,” said David S. thing but crazy?” said Bob to shoot people for maybe 20 ic and sometimes violent be- would love me,” Cruz ex-
Weinstein, a Miami defense Jarvis, a professor at Nova minutes,” Cruz said. havior. When he was expelled plained. “I didn’t like Valen-
attorney and former prosecu- Southeastern University’s a year before the shooting, tine’s Day and I wanted to
tor who has been monitoring law school. How did cruz prepare? a guard predicted he would ruin it for everyone.”
the trial. He told Scott he put his AR- eventually return and shoot
Excerpts from those inter- 15-style semi-automatic rifle people. “Do you mean for the fam-
The jury will likely decide views, some of which are in a bag the night before and ily members of the kids that
Cruz’s fate this week. For graphic: slipped its magazines into a Fearing he’d been discovered, were killed?” Denney asked.
the 24-year-old to get a death How long had cruz been con- shooting vest. He adjusted Cruz sprinted into a three-
sentence, the jury must be templating a school shooting? the gun’s sights and imagined story classroom building and “No, for the school,” Cruz
unanimous on at least one “A very long time,” Cruz told what the recoil would feel quickly assembled his weap- replied.
victim. But if all 17 counts Scott, starting when he was like. on. He told a student who
come back with at least one 13 or 14, about five years be- “I didn’t get any sleep,” Cruz happened upon him to flee The holiday will never be cel-
vote in favor of life in prison, fore he did it. said. because something bad was ebrated there again, he said.