Nikolas Cruz was searched daily for weapons while he was still enrolled in high school
A security guard has testified that Nikolas Cruz was such a threat when he attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that he was searched for weapons every morning.
Cruz, now 20, confessed to police that he returned to the Parkland, Florida, school on Valentine’s Day 2018, when he was no longer a student, and killed 14 students and three educators.
Security guard Kevin Greenleaf testified that Cruz was barred from bringing a backpack on campus after talking of suicide and writing ‘kill’ in a notebook.
‘Never found a weapon on him,’ Greenleaf explained in the July 11 deposition.
‘I think we got concerned when, I think, we found out he drank bleach, tried to hurt himself or something like that, the kid. That’s when we started, like, having the kid come in every morning to be searched by me, but never found a weapon on the kid, never,’ Greenleaf continued.
An unidentified school crossing guard is seen with a deputy the day after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Security guard Kevin Greenleaf testified that he searched Cruz daily while he was enrolled at the school
Cruz is seen in yearbook photos left and right. School staff say he drank bleach and wrote ‘kill’ in a notebook, raising alarm and causing him to be banned from bringing a backpack
Administrators forced Cruz to withdraw from school in 2017.
The guard’s deposition came in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of Meadow Pollack.
Father Andy Pollack tells the newspaper he’d have never sent his child to school had he known about Cruz.
Earlier this month, Cruz appeared in a Florida court, where the start date of his high-profile trial was tentatively confirmed by a judge.
Cruz appeared to have suffered some form of injury to his nose since his last appearance in court, with a bandage placed over its bridge along with two black lines beneath the base of his eyes.
School shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz listens during a calendar call hearing at the Broward Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Relatively emotionless through much of the hearing, Cruz, who is charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, is set to be put on trial on January 20, 2020.
Restrained at the ankles and wrists with a chain tied around his back, Cruz raised a low hand to address the Broward County Courtroom.
He stood and spoke for himself under oath for the first time, forgoing his typical tradition of allowing his public defenders to speak on his behalf as he has done in previous court appearances.
Sporting unkempt hair, Cruz told presiding Judge Elizabeth Scherer he wanted to waive his right to appear at future status hearings about his case, though said he was aware he may still be required to attend more substantiate hearings.
Surveillance video captured gunman Nikolas Cruz stalking the hallways of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida with an assault rifle where he killed 17 people
Students hold their hands in the air as they are evacuated by police from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland
When asked, Cruz simply responded ‘Yes’, that he understood he was giving up a right by filing the request to the judge.
Scherer asked Cruz to clarify that he was of sound mind to make such a decision, one not plagued by medication that could potential alter his decision.
‘I fully understand what you’re saying,’ Cruz told the judge.
Watching on from the gallery, Cruz’s brother Zachary was spotted among the sea of faces in the pews behind.
Zachary was sporting previously unseen facial markings of his own: two small suggestive tattoos on either side of his face, with a peace symbol on the left, and a broken heart on the right.
Much like his brother, Zachary was sporting previously unseen facial markings of his own: two small tattoos on either side of his face, with a peace symbol on the left, and a broken heart on the right
Cruz’s lawyers have previously said their client would be willing to plead guilty to the 17 counts of first-degree murder charges if a sentence of life in prison could be guaranteed by the court.
The prosecution however insist they would rather take the case to trial and allow a jury to decide Cruz’s ultimate fate.
The next status hearing in the case is set to take place on September 3.