Parkland school shooting 911 calls released
Authorities also released the first responders' radio transmissions. Phil Keating reports from Florida.
The Florida school shooter's gory, violent fantasies were reportedly detailed in therapy sessions nearly four years before Nikolas Cruz opened fire on Valentine’s Day, killing 17 people.
Cruz attended weekly therapy sessions between February 2014 and December 2015 at Cross Creek, a school in Pompano Beach that specializes in students with behavioral and emotional disorders, according to records obtained by the Miami Herald. In one session on May 3, 2014, Cruz said he had a dream “of him killing people and covered in blood,” the report stated.
“He smiled and told the therapist that sometimes he says things for shock value,” the Broward County schools psychiatric file stated.
The disturbing thoughts prompted school administrators to develop a “safety plan’ that included removing “all sharp objects from the home” and encouraging Cruz to openly discuss his problems.
Therapy sessions in the following months also disclosed the 19-year-old’s obsession with guns and shooting before he engaged in the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Cruz would talk about researching wars, military and terrorist topics on YouTube, according to the report. His mother, Lynda Cruz — who died in pneumonia in November — explained his son’s obsession developed through “excessive gaming.”
NIKOLAS CRUZ'S MOM, TORMENTED BY HIS BEHAVIOR, WEIGHED SIGNING OVER PARENTAL RIGHTS: FAMILY SOURCE
A family source previously told Fox News that Cruz’s mother often saw her son dressed in military fatigues and headdresses. At one point she told the family source: “He thinks he’s f---ing ISIS.”
Cruz’s violent fantasies continued. He wrote that his “perfect summer” would include him “buying some type of gun and shooting at targets that I set up with large amounts of ammo just for fun for hours.” He added he wanted to earn his own money to be able to pay for items himself.
“I will never be happy with my life I have no money or [sic] freinds,” Cruz wrote, talking about his loneliness.
The school therapist and psychiatrist at Cross Creek wrote in a letter before summer 2014 that they were concerned about Cruz's “aggressive and destructive” behavior at home.
“At home, he continues to be aggressive and destructive with minimal provocation,” the letter stated. “For instance, he destroyed his television after losing a video game that he was playing. Nikolas has a hatchet that he uses to chop up a dead tree in his backyard. Mom has not been able to locate that hatchet as of lately.”
It continued: “When upset he punches holes in the walls and has used sharp tools to cut up the upholstery on the furniture and carve holes in the walls of the bathroom.”
Nikolas Cruz is accused of opening fire inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, killing 17 people. (Reuters)
But by April 2015, Cruz was reportedly showing “tremendous progress” with his behavior, enough to be able to control his outburst at home and at school. Cruz spoke about wanting to go to a traditional school, rather than the alternate school he reportedly hated.
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Cruz began attending Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as a part-time student by October 2016. He stopped attending Cross Creek in early January 2016 to attend the high school full-time.
In psychiatric progress notes before he left Cross Creek, Cruz was advised to continue therapy, medications for mental health and social work case-management at home. But his behavioral troubles continued at the high school.
Fox News’ Kathleen Reuschle contributed to this report.
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