Parkland school shooting: Nikolas Cruz's drawings from Florida jail reveal disturbed mind

By Audrey Conklin

Parkland, Florida, school shooter Nikolas Cruz's drawings from jail reveal the dark corners of his mind, according to local reports.

Cruz is being tried for the Feb. 14, 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 people, including 14 students and three staff members, dead. Cruz pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder.

"I do not want to be bothered by anyone or anything. I can't wait to die. Blood, blood. I only wanna see blood fall," Cruz wrote on one page of the drawings obtained by WSVN and FOX 13 Tampa.

Other drawings show a figure shooting people with a rifle, monster-like faces, pentagrams, the numbers "666," and the phrase, "Hail Satan!"

Nikolas Cruz's drawing depicting a figure shooting a gun

Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz's drawing appears to show a figure shooting people with a rifle. (FOX 13 Tampa)

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One of Nikolas Cruz's drawings shows monster-like faces and the phrase, 'Hail Satan' (FOX 13 Tampa)

Writing from Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz

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"I do not want to be bothered by anyone or anything. I can't wait to die. Blood, blood. I only wanna see blood fall," Cruz wrote on one page of the drawings. (FOX 13 Tampa)

Nikolas Cruz's drawing depicts a person carrying a large rifle.

Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz's drawing appears to show a figure wearing a hat carrying a large rifle. (FOX 13 Tampa)

The shooter also pleaded for the death penalty on one page, according to FOX 13, writing, "I do not want life please help me go to death row!"

Cruz's defense team began their testimony on Monday, arguing for life without parole instead of the death penalty. The shooter often spends his time doodling in a notebook while he is held in solitary confinement, his attorneys said.

Cruz's lead attorney, Melisa McNeil, said Cruz has fetal alcohol and drug issues, and his adoptive mother was unable to properly care for him growing up after her husband died suddenly when Cruz was 5 years old.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz is shown at the defense table during the penalty phase of his trial at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz appears in a Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Aug. 23. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool)

Danielle Woodard, the half-sister of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz, becomes emotional as she testifies in the penalty phase of Cruz's trial at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale.

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Nikolas Cruz's half-sister, Danielle Woodward, on Monday described a tumultuous upbringing with a mother who drank, smoked crack and prostituted herself while her children were around. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool)

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz, which the witness has circled in blue, is shown with classmates in an undated photo.

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A photo of Nikolas Cruz as a child is shown in a Broward County courtroom on Aug. 23. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool)

An undated photograph of the Cruz family is shown in the courtroom.

Cruz's lead attorney, Melisa McNeil, said on Monday that Cruz has fetal alcohol and drug issues, and his adoptive mother was unable to properly care for him growing up after her husband died suddenly when Cruz was 5 years old. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool)

"He is a brain-damaged human," McNeil said.

While "everyone knows there is one person responsible for all that pain and all of that suffering, and that person is Nikolas Cruz," McNiel said she hopes jurors know the law "never requires you to vote for death."

The shooter's half-sister, Danielle Woodward, described a tumultuous upbringing with a mother who drank, smoked crack and prostituted herself while her children were around. Woodward is currently residing at the Turner Guildford Knight Correctional Center, awaiting her own trial for allegedly car-jacking a 72-year-old woman in January 2020.

Fox News' Bradford Betz contributed to this report.

Audrey Conklin is a former digital reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/parkland-school-shooting-nikolas-cruzs-drawings-florida-jail-reveal-disturbed-mind