He cut his arms in a Snapchat post and had 'plans to go out and buy a gun,' the investigator noted at the time.ĭCF closed the investigation six weeks later, saying the agency found no evidence of mistreatment. The investigator noted Nikolas Cruz had depression, ADHD and autism.

Documents show that in September 2016 an investigator with Florida's Department of Children and Families (DCF) visited the family to investigate allegations of medical neglect. The investigation into the shooting revealed that there were several missed warning signs. Zachary wishes that he had been 'nicer' to his brother' and that there may be resentment between the two 'as Nikolas may have been the favored brother.' refuses to follow house rules.'Īfter the shooting, according to a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office report, Zachary told deputies that 'he and his friends, when they were younger, had bullied Nikolas, which he now regrets ever doing. As the officers were guiding students out, they noticed something odd: One of the students had put on a bulletproof vest.Earlier, in August 2012, sheriff's deputies reported that Lynda Cruz told them Zachary 'is rude and always runs away from home. In the classroom where Mackenzie Hill had been hiding, police broke through the door. Zachary Cruz, right, the brother of the Florida school shooting suspect, is displayed in a monitor via closed circuit television from the main jail, as he waits to make his first appearance on. He wondered if it was the girl he had heard. Nathanael Clark - who'd heard a girl pleading for help outside his classroom's locked door - left that classroom at last. Students evacuated past bodies of their teachers and classmates, both inside and outside the building. He sat for a while, then moved on.īack at the school, police began to clear classrooms, scooping up the wounded and leaving the dead. The gunman walked to a nearby Walmart, police said, and bought a drink at the Subway outlet inside. The armed police officer on the Douglas campus never encountered him, police said. In his Douglas High School polo shirt - authorities said Cruz had such a shirt from his time as a member of the school's Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps - he blended in. The rifle and backpack were ditched in a stairwell, and police say the shooter left the school in a crowd of fleeing students. If you know the whereabouts or have any knowledge of any of these. All warrants need to be verified through our system and also through CIB before the individual will be apprehended. This list is current at the time of posting. 'Oh my God! Oh my God!' the student screamed, along with others.Īt 2:24 p.m., just five minutes after police say the gunman got out of the car in front of the school, the shooting stopped, according to an official police timeline. The Wood County Sheriffs Department holds active Warrant (s) for the persons listed below in alphabetical order. In the video, gunfire seems to be coming through the door into the classroom - about 18 shots, the gunman so close that smoke seemed to billow in the window behind the bullets. 'Our f-ing school is getting shot up,' he wrote as a caption. In one classroom, a student used the social-media app Snapchat to record his classmates hiding. 'I love you,' Meghan Hill wrote in text messages to her sister, as they hunkered down one floor apart. Beigel did.'Īnother school staffer - Aaron Feis, an assistant football coach and security guard - also was credited with sacrificing his life to save students during the rampage.Įlsewhere in the school, students huddled inside closets, under desks, searching for news coverage and texting parents and siblings and friends. 'Superman saves lives, and that's exactly what Mr.

'He's my Superman,' Friend said Thursday. Beigel, 35, had been shot while rushing students to safety. 'My teacher is on the floor,' Kelsey Friend, 16, texted her mother. 'Hey yo, hey whatcha doin?' was the last text Cruz sent, Lewis recounted. But Cruz's texts to him gave no reason for alarm. He was in class as Cruz neared the school. In the car on the way to Douglas, he was texting with the friend whose family had taken him in. That afternoon, Cruz hailed an Uber, using the online car-service app. 'He said something to the effect of, 'Oh, it's Valentine's Day, I don't go to school on Valentine's Day,' ' said Jim Lewis, an attorney who represents the family Cruz was staying with. Most mornings, the friend's father drove Cruz to an adult-education class, where he was studying for a GED. On Wednesday morning, the suspect was staying with a friend's family, which had taken him in after Cruz's mother died last year. 'And, even still - even with that - we have 17 casualties.' She started to cry. We knew what to do,' said Melissa Falkowski, a teacher at the school, talking about students and faculty on CNN.

Zachary cruz prior arrest