Who was the Florida shooter: shocking Instagram posts, obsession with guns and violence

19-year-old Nicholas Cruz, a former student of the school in Parkland, opened fire at the school, killing 17 people. A young man who was adopted at birth by an elderly couple, has recently suffered from depression. His father died when the boy was still young, and his mother was buried just 3 a month ago. What was Nicholas, and why the whole street knew about him, neighbors, friends and family members told a local publication Sun sentinel.

Photo: Broward Sheriff's Office

The motives of the shooter are currently not established, but it is known that he had previously been expelled from this educational institution for disciplinary reasons, calling it a “threat” to students.

Cruz's mother, Linda Cruz, passed away on November 1 on 2017. She was 68 years old.

Family member Barbara Kumbatovich from Long Island, New York, said she heard about the mass shooting in Florida, but had no idea that the suspect was the son of her recently deceased daughter-in-law Linda.

Linda and her husband, Roger, who died many years ago, adopted Nicholas and his biological brother Zachary after the couple moved from Long Island to Broward County.

Kumbatovich said he saw the boys only once at a family funeral in New York when they were very young. Linda was a housewife, and her husband was a calm family man and worked in advertising. He died when the boys were very young.

Linda always dreamed of having two boys whom the couple adopted later. After their adoptive mother died on November 1, the boys remained in the care of a family friend.

“I know she had problems with them, especially the older one. He was problematic. I know he had some health problems and was taking medication. He had some kind of emotional problems or difficulties,” Kumbatovich said.

Janine Cartiganer, who lives near Cruz's home, said the guy looked "very concerned."

“He was hooded and always had his head down,” she said. “He looked depressed.”

16-year-old Trevor Hart, who knew Cruz from Spanish lessons at school, said they had eaten together in a school cafe for a while.

“He didn’t seem to like school,” Hart said. “Cruz attended JROTC and constantly posted photos of weapons on Instagram, as well as abusing small animals or insects.”

Shelby and Richie Spenno moved to the same street where the Cruz family lived in 2005.

Shelby Speno said that she was warned that Nicholas had problems with discipline, for example, he bites children or steals neighborhood mail. One day he threw eggs into Richie’s car as he drove.

The police often came to the house to Nicholas due to the fact that he shot at the neighboring chickens.

17-year-old Jonathan Guimaraes said that he and Cruz were at JROTC together: “He was normal. He had no problems. ”

Mathematics teacher James Gard said that Cruz was in his class last year.

“He was a pretty quiet kid,” Gard said. “He never had behavior problems in my class.”

Malcolm and Christina Roxburgh have been neighbors of the Cruz family for many years.

"It was wonderful. Two elderly people have two little boys to look after. They were just kind people,” Christina Roxburgh said.

Christine added that Linda asked her daughter to pick up the children when her husband died, but she refused.

A neighbor once noticed how Nicholas was trying to steal a bicycle from the garage when the door was open.

Christina said that when the boy did not want to go to school, he beat his head against the cement wall.

“He could have killed any of us,” Christina said.

Nicholas Cruz
Photo: Twitter / @ CBS12

Another relative, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Nicholas was diagnosed with autism.

Linda, who died of pneumonia, adopted Nicholas the same day he was born. Nicholas's father died of a heart attack, a relative dubvil.

After their mother died, Cruz and his brother lived with a family friend in Palm Beach County, but Cruz was unhappy. He asked a friend he knew from school to live with him in northwest Broward, said family lawyer Jim Lewis.

The family allowed the guy to move in on Thanksgiving Day. He was given a separate room. Cruz also got a job at a local store.

“The family is devastated. They accepted it, and it's a classic case of a good deed going unpunished,” Lewis said. “He was a little weird and depressed after his mom died, but who knew?”

According to Lewis, the teenager already owned a weapon when he moved into the family of his friend.

“He had a gun,” Lewis said. “The family forced him to be kept in a locked closet in the house, but he had a key.”

The family of a friend cooperates fully with the investigators. Lewis said detectives received a search warrant to search for evidence in Cruz’s room.

Now the attacker is in the Broward County jail, before that his mental and physical condition was assessed in the hospital Broward General North.

In February 14 High School in Parkland, Florida, shooting occurredwhich killed 17 people and injured 15. Some families still can not exit to communicate with their loved ones as well appeared information about those who died.

Also read eyewitness shooting records at school in florida and stories of dead victims.

All news about school shooting read here.

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