Photographs of Florida shooter Nikolas Cruz interring his dead mother and smiling by a Christmas tree reveal a stark contrast to the concerned phone calls officials received warning them about the teen who was ‘collecting guns and knives’.
The images from late November or December of last year were taken around the same time that a caller informed police they believed the 19-year-old would ‘kill himself one day’ and could be a ‘school shooter in the making’.
A 911 log released on Thursday by the Broward County Sheriff’s Department reveals that police first were warned of Cruz’s gun collection in February 2016.
Almost exactly two years later, on February 14 of this year, Cruz killed 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
Cruz’s mother, Lynda, died of flu complications on November 1, and the teen and his brother Zachary, who has not been since he was involuntarily committed to a mental facility last week – moved in with their family friend Rocxanne Deschamps.
Sometime between then and January, Cruz and Zachary were photographed placing an urn holding Lynda’s ashes into a tomb.
Nikolas Cruz (right) brother Zachary (left), who has not been since he was involuntarily committed to a mental facility last week, were photographed interring their mother in November or December last year
In another photo believed to be taken around the same time, Cruz can be seen smiling in front of a Christmas tree
Around the same time, a caller informed police that they believed Cruz would ‘kill himself one day’ and could be a ‘school shooter in the making’
The pair look somber as each brother holds one side of their adoptive mother’s urn. A bouquet of flowers sits between them beneath the tomb.
A second photo, obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com and believed to be taken around the same time, shows Cruz wearing the same outfit and smiling in front of a tall Christmas tree at an unknown location.
During November 2017, the Cruz brothers were living with the Deschamps in Lake Worth, Florida, about 30 miles north of their home in Parkland.
On November 25, Rock Deschamps, the 22-year-old son of Rocxanne Deschamps, called 911 to say Cruz had buried a weapon in his backyard and that it was not allowed.
It is not clear if a police officer ever responded by going to the house.
Four days later, on November 29, his mother called 911 again to say Cruz and her son had gotten into a fight and that Cruz was on his way to pick up a gun from ‘Dick’s’ that he’d just bought.
She said ‘he had bought a gun from Dick’s last week and is now going to pick it up’.
Deschamps then told the operator Cruz had ‘tons of ammo’, ‘has used a gun against people before’, and ‘has put the gun to others heads in the past’.
Cruz’s mother, Lynda, died of flu complications on November 1, and Cruz and Zachary moved in with their family friend Rocxanne Deschamps (pictured). On November 29, Deschamps called 911 to say Cruz and her son had gotten into a fight and that Cruz was on his way to pick up a gun from ‘Dick’s’ that he’d just bought
Cruz lived with the Deschamps family in their trailer in Lake Worth, Florida, in West Palm Beach for a few weeks in November
Cruz’s fight with Rock Deschamps was over a photograph of Cruz’s late mother Lynda (pictured with Cruz as a baby) which he had misplaced
That time, a sheriff’s deputy responded. They found Cruz in a nearby park where he apologized for losing his temper.
He then went back with the officer to the Deschamps home and made up with Deschamps’ son.
The sheriff’s deputy left without making an arrest because of the reconciliation.
Rock Deschamps signed a document refusing to press charges as a result.
The fight was over a photograph of Cruz’s late mother Lynda which he had misplaced.
Details of both calls were released on Thursday by CNN which obtained records from Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
The following day, on November 30, police in Parkland received a call saying Cruz was ‘collecting guns and knives’.
A caller said they were ‘concerned [Cruz] will kill himself’ and believed that Cruz was a ‘school shooter in the making’.
The call to Parkland officials came from someone in Massachusetts, and authorities advised the caller to contact the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office.
Police had long been warned of Cruz’s gun collection, with the first call coming in February 2016. The FBI was also warned of Cruz at least twice
Not long after, Cruz left Deschamps’ Lake Worth home to live with the Snead family back in Parkland.
Police had long been warned of Cruz’s gun collection, with the first call coming in February 2016.
On February 5, 2016, a neighbor’s son alerted officers to an Instagram post that showed Cruz, then a juvenile, holding guns and threatening to shoot up the school.
The deputy who responded noted that Cruz, who was 17 at the time, had BB guns and knives but did not write up a report, choosing instead to notify the school.
The FBI had been warned about him at least twice, including once by a YouTube user who saw a comment written by someone with his name who said they wanted to become a ‘professional school shooter’.
Paul Gold, Rocxanne Deschamps’ former fiance, recalled how he drove him to his mother’s funeral in November and said he was ‘stoic’ throughout.
There were four people at the ceremony; Cruz, his brother Zachary, Roxanne and Paul and the meager turnout upset him.
‘The boy was stoic. Not a tear. Not an emotion. I asked him if he was upset. He said: ‘I’m upset because nobody came, and nobody cares about my mother,” Gold said.
‘I told him that his mother was loved by many, many people and they just couldn’t make it, timing and whatnot. It was a complete lie.
‘But I felt horrible. Here’s this poor kid, and his mother dies, and not a soul shows up,’ Gold added.
Kimberly and James Snead took Cruz in after the Deschamps and they allowed him to keep his guns in the home
DailyMail.com previously revealed that Cruz was asked to leave the Deschamps home because he wanted to keep guns on the property – something Rocxanne would not allow.
Deschamps also filed court papers the day after the massacre trying to claim control of Cruz’s $800,000 inheritance.
Zachary, who will soon be 18, was committed to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation after the shooting on February 14.
He was still living with the Deschamps beforehand.
Both he and Nikolas were adopted by Cruz and her late husband Roger when they were babies. Roger died of a heart attack years ago and Lynda died of the flu in November.
After he left the Deschamps home, Cruz went to live with Kimberly and James Snead in Parkland, where he had grown up.
Mr Snead, a military intelligence analyst, and his wife Kimberly, a neonatal intensive care nurse, said that given a second chance, they still would have let Cruz into their home and let him bring his guns with him.
One of the conditions of him being allowed to stay there was that he had to keep the guns in a safe.
In a recent interview, Mr Snead thought he had the only key, but now believes Cruz found a way to get a second key.
When asked how many guns Cruz had, Mr Snead was uncertain.