Parkland killer boasted of mass murder
plans in cell phone videos
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[May 31, 2018]
By Rich McKay
(Reuters) - The teen charged with shooting
17 people dead at his former high school in Parkland, Florida, boasted
of plans to commit mass murder in a series of cell phone videos recorded
by him before the rampage and released on Wednesday by prosecutors.
In one of the three video clips, Nikolas Cruz, 19, calmly declares,
"Hello. My name is Nik and I'm going to be the next school shooter of
2018." He goes on to say: "My goal is to kill at least 20 people with an
AR-15," referring to the assault-style rifle he is seen holding in the
footage.
Brandishing the rifle at another point, Cruz says: "You're all going to
die," adding with a chuckle, "Can't wait."
The video clips were part of an inventory of prosecution evidence
recently shared with the defense team during the pre-trial discovery
process, said Constance Jones-Simmons, a spokeswoman for the Broward
County state attorney's office.
The Miami Herald and other media outlets obtained copies through a
public records request after seeing mention of the footage in court
documents, she told Reuters.
The three videos, none longer than 90 seconds in duration, are believed
to have been made a short time before the shooting rampage on Feb. 14 at
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, but Jones-Simmons said she did not
know precisely when they were recorded.
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Cruz, a former Stoneman Douglas student expelled for disciplinary
problems, has been described by former classmates as a social misfit and
trouble-maker who was fascinated with guns. Police have said they
responded to numerous calls related to the teenager in the years leading
up to the massacre.
But authorities, who say Cruz confessed to the killings after his
arrest, have never offered a possible motive for the bloodshed. Release
of the video "selfies," posted online by the Herald, shed little new
light on that question except to suggest Cruz felt he was treated as an
outcast.
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![](../images/053118pics/news_I13.jpg)
Nikolas Cruz sits next to his attorneys appointed by the Broward
Public Defender’s Office as a judge determines if he can afford his
own lawyer, in Broward Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.,
April 11, 2018. Taimy Alvarez/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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In one video, Cruz said his former classmates thought he was "an
idiot and a dumb ass." He also professed his love for a girl he
mentioned only by first name, and said he hoped to see her in the
"afterlife."
The gun seen in the video is apparently the rifle authorities say
Cruz legally purchased from a licensed gun dealer last year and
ultimately used as the murder weapon.
He is charged with 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted
murder stemming from the Parkland killings, which rank as the
second-greatest loss of life from gun violence at a public school in
modern U.S. history, after a 2012 shooting rampage at Sandy Hook
Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20
first-graders and six adult educators dead.
The Florida shooting triggered an extraordinary protest movement and
lobbying campaign for tougher gun control restrictions led by
student survivors of the Parkland massacre and parents of the
victims.
Cruz, whose own lawyer had called him a "broken human being" who
feels remorse for his crimes, is being held in the Broward County
jail without bond in Fort Lauderdale, and is on suicide watch,
officials said.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Steve Gorman;
Editing by Michael Perry)
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