Florida school shooter may have been his own worst witness

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — It’s doable Florida college shooter Nikolas Cruz talked himself right into a demise sentence.

Prosecutors performed video final week at Cruz’s penalty trial of jailhouse interviews he did this yr with two of their psychological well being consultants. In frank and generally graphic element, he answered their questions on his bloodbath of 17 individuals at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive Faculty on Feb. 14, 2018 — his planning, his motivation, the shootings.

Whereas it may well’t be recognized what the 12 jurors are pondering, if any are wavering between voting for demise or life with out parole, his statements to Dr. Charles Scott, a forensic psychiatrist, and Robert Denney, a neuropsychologist, didn’t assist his trigger.

“All of this made Cruz himself maybe one of many state’s greatest witnesses,” mentioned David S. Weinstein, a Miami protection lawyer and former prosecutor who has been monitoring the trial.

The jury will possible determine Cruz’s destiny this week. For the 24-year-old to get a demise sentence, the jury have to be unanimous on a minimum of one sufferer. But when all 17 counts come again with a minimum of one vote in favor of life in jail, then that might be his sentence. Closing arguments are scheduled Tuesday, with deliberations starting Wednesday.

As a result of Cruz’s protection is that his delivery mom’s heavy ingesting throughout being pregnant left him mind broken, prosecutors might have consultants study him for his or her rebuttal case.

Scott and Denney interviewed him individually for a number of hours. In every, Cruz sat throughout the desk, handcuffed, a sweater draped over his chest. He generally requested for a pen and paper so as to add diagrams and drawings to his explanations.

“The query is: What’s going to the jury take away from the interviews? Chilly-blooded killer who was vengeful and excited concerning the murders, or an individual so hopelessly deranged that he can’t be something however loopy?” mentioned Bob Jarvis, a professor at Nova Southeastern College’s legislation college.

Excerpts from these interviews, a few of that are graphic:

HOW LONG HAD CRUZ BEEN CONTEMPLATING A SCHOOL SHOOTING?

“A really very long time,” Cruz advised Scott, beginning when he was 13 or 14, about 5 years earlier than he did it.

“It was only a thought. I used to be studying books,” Cruz mentioned. “It could come and go. It could pop up in my thoughts.”

The ideas would return when he watched violent movies, notably documentaries about mass shootings at Colorado’s Columbine Excessive Faculty, Virginia Tech and elsewhere, he mentioned.

HOW DID CRUZ PLAN THE MASSACRE?

“I did my very own analysis,” Cruz advised Scott. “I studied mass murderers and the way they did it, their plans, what they obtained and what they used.”

He detailed the teachings he discovered: Look ahead to would-be rescuers coming round corners, maintain a long way out of your focused victims, assault as quick as doable — and “the police didn’t do something.”

“I’ve a small alternative to shoot individuals for perhaps 20 minutes,” Cruz mentioned.

HOW DID CRUZ PREPARE?

He advised Scott he put his AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle in a bag the night time earlier than and slipped its magazines right into a taking pictures vest. He adjusted the gun’s sights and imagined what the recoil would really feel like.

“I didn’t get any sleep,” Cruz mentioned.

He donned the burgundy polo shirt he acquired when he was a member of the Stoneman Douglas Junior Reserve Officer Coaching Corps program so he might escape by mingling with fleeing college students.

“If I had all my (taking pictures) gear on, they might have known as the cops,” Cruz mentioned.

When he set out at 2 p.m., he advised the Uber driver he was within the college orchestra and the bag carried his instrument.

WHAT DID CRUZ DO WHEN HE ARRIVED?

“I walked by the gates. Hopefully, there can be no safety guards, however I used to be unsuitable,” Cruz advised Scott. “I used to be trying on the man and he was watching me.”

When Cruz attended Stoneman Douglas, guards regularly checked him for weapons due to his erratic and generally violent conduct. When he was expelled a yr earlier than the taking pictures, a guard predicted he would ultimately return and shoot individuals.

Fearing he’d been found, Cruz sprinted right into a three-story classroom constructing and rapidly assembled his weapon. He advised a scholar who occurred upon him to flee as a result of one thing unhealthy was about to occur.

He then went ground to ground, taking pictures down hallways and into lecture rooms, firing 140 photographs in all.

“I assumed they might scream,” Cruz mentioned about his first three victims. He shot them point-blank exterior a locked classroom door. “It was extra like they handed out and blood got here pouring out of their head. It was actually nasty and unhappy to see.”

However he continued.

“I believe I confirmed mercy to a few ladies. I used to be going to stroll away, however they confirmed nasty faces and I went again,” Cruz mentioned. “I assumed they had been going to assault me.”

Cruz shot a number of of his victims a second time after they fell, together with his ultimate one — a scholar writhing from a leg wound. He mentioned the boy “gave me a nasty look. A glance of anger.”

“His head blew up like a water balloon,” Cruz mentioned.

WHY DID CRUZ STOP SHOOTING?

College students and lecturers fled the constructing or locked themselves in lecture rooms. The third-floor hallway was now empty aside from victims.

“I couldn’t discover anybody to kill,” he mentioned. “I didn’t need to do it anymore and I didn’t assume there was anybody else within the constructing.”

He dropped his gun and vest on the stairwell and fled. He was captured an hour later — the police officer had been searching for a younger male in a Stoneman Douglas ROTC polo.

CRUZ’S FINAL SAY

As Denney was ending the ultimate interview, he requested Cruz if there was anything he ought to know. Cruz thought for 10 seconds earlier than responding: “Why I selected Valentine’s Day.”

“As a result of I assumed nobody would love me,” Cruz defined. “I didn’t like Valentine’s Day and I needed to destroy it for everybody.”

“Do you imply for the relations of the children that had been killed?” Denney requested.

“No, for the varsity,” Cruz replied.

The vacation won’t ever be celebrated there once more, he mentioned.