The mother of the gunman who killed 14 children and three teachers at a Florida high school was considering giving up her parental rights after years of enduing his behavioral issues.
Nikolas Cruz’s adoptive mother, Lynda Cruz, had made dozens of calls to the authorities about her son’s disturbing issues in the years leading up to his massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. She died of pneumonia in November.
‘The past few months [before she died] she was scared,’ a source told Fox News. ‘I think that’s what killed her.’
Lynda had worked with therapists to try and control both of her sons, Nikolas and Zachary, and called police. Things had gotten so bad that she did discuss possibly giving up her parental rights, although it is not known who she would have relinquished them to.
Lynda Cruz considered giving up parental rights of Nikolas Cruz whose angry outbursts continued despite having mental health professionals and cops called to the home
Zachary and Nikolas, adoptive brothers of Lynda, terrorized their mother to the point that she thought about giving up her parental rights to the troubled boys (they are pictured with Lynda’s ashes in November)
Nikolas killed 14 children and three teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
‘I don’t think she would have done it, she loved the boys more than anything in the world,’ the source said.
‘She was just fed up with not getting anywhere, tired of how she was being treated and she was saying, ‘Why am I doing this to myself?’
The mother once told the family source that Nikolas, dressed in a military uniform and holding an air gun, approached her and said: ‘Drop to your knees b—-, I’m going to blow your f—ing brains out.’
He later laughed it off and said ‘I’m sorry, Mom.’
She once told the source on the phone, ‘He thinks he’s f—ing ISIS.’
Despite the outbursts, Lynda still loved her son.
‘She wrote things off that should have been addressed sooner,’ the source said.
Officials said the teen had received treatment at a mental health clinic for a while, but stopped getting help more than a year ago.
He was also found to be autistic at age 10, and suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHA) and depression in his preteen years.
Cruz’s frequent outbusts included punching holes in walls and throwing things at their upper middle class home in Parkland.
He was also seen on Snapchat cutting himself after a breakup.
According to police incident reports Cruz in one instance threw chairs, a dog bowl and a drinking glass around the home, and in another he hit his adoptive mother with the plastic hose of a vacuum cleaner.
Police would often respond, along with mental health professionals that were aware of Cruz’s case history.
However, none of the calls ever ended with a conviction on felony charges, and he was never involuntarily held due to mental illness, two points that are flagged in the national gun background checks.
During one of dozens of times police responded to the Cruz family home for threats violent outbursts and self destructive behavior was in September of 2016.
In that incident report he is described as suffering from mental illness and being ’emotionally handicapped,’ and being on behavioral medication.
Another report notes, ‘He has mentioned in the past that he would like to purchase a firearm.’
The family living in this posh Parkland, Florida home, where cops were called dozens of times
The emergency calls that the police received from the home included incidents categorized as ‘mentally ill person,’ ‘child/elderly abuse,’ ‘domestic disturbance’ and ‘missing person.’
At least two calls reported Cruz as missing, in 2012 and 2013.
During an incident in November of 2012, Lynda called the police to report he hit her with with the plastic hose of a vacuum cleaner.
On another occasion on January 15, 2013, an angry Cruz railed against his mother after he refused to go school, and she took away his Xbox privileges. During this one instance the teen ‘retaliated and threw a chair, dog bowl and a drinking glass across the room.’
Cruz was formally charged on Wednesday with 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 of attempted murder.