11/15/2023 0 Comments Zachary cruz prior arrestStarting in 2012, the reports begin to paint a much darker picture about both Zachary and Nikolas Cruz. Sheriff says he got 23 calls about shooter's family, but records show more Eventually, Gold said, Zachary and other kids ostracized and bullied Nikolas.īroward County Sheriff Scott Israel insists his department received 23 calls relating to high school shooter Nikolas Cruz or his family. Lynda Cruz died last year.īut former neighbor Paul Gold told CNN that Zachary Cruz, though more than a year younger, grew up to be bigger and more physically developed. When Nikolas had outbursts and destroyed property, their mother, Lynda Cruz, blamed Zachary for everything, Guarino said. Guarino says Nikolas started exhibiting aggressive tendencies at a young age and Zachary appeared to fear his older brother. “He is a victim in all of this,” Guarino told CNN about Zachary Cruz’s bond and pretrial restrictions. When Guarino learned Zachary Cruz was accused of trespassing onto the Marjory Stoneman Douglas campus, she immediately flashed back to his childhood, when she says she saw him being blamed for everything his brother did. Like most brothers, Zachary and Nikolas joked and poked at each other, she said. Zachary, she said, was the cool skateboarder kid. Joelle Guarino watched the Cruz brothers grow up across the street. New Florida gun law used on brother of Parkland school shooter (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool) Amy Beth Bennett/AP A judge set an unusually high $500,000 bond on Tuesday and imposed a host of other restrictions. 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 charges of trespassing on the grounds of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Tuesday, March 20, 2018, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. I could see it in his face,” he said of seeing the suspect on TV news coverage.Ĭruz’s lawyers are scheduled to argue for his release at a Thursday hearing. The Parkland mother says she hopes he gets help.Įric Lipetz, who also recently visited the memorial, was less sympathetic: “Give me a break. “He has become a villain because of his name,” said Lindsay Joly. The community, too, has differing views on the treatment of Zachary Cruz. When Zachary Cruz was interviewed two days after the Parkland shooting, the officer noted there was a shotgun and a rifle in the house that needed to be secured, according to Palm Beach County records. (Zachary Cruz told deputies he did not own firearms or ammunition, according to court documents.) The Broward County Sheriff’s Office alleges Cruz has a violent and combative past and is likely mentally ill and it’s using a new Florida law enacted after the Parkland shooting, to restrict Cruz from getting his hands on a gun. “He is being held because of who he is related to, not because of anything that he did,” attorney Joseph Kimok told Judge Kim Theresa Mollica.Īssistant State Attorney Sarahnell Murphy and the sheriff’s office counter that argument, saying Zachary Cruz poses a danger to the community. The memorial at Marjory Stone Douglas High School includes piles of flowers and messages. Zachary Cruz’s attorneys argue their client – who allegedly skateboarded through campus – is being treated unfairly and is the victim of “hysteria” fueled by a massacre that traumatized the community. These actions have raised questions about whether Zachary Cruz, 18, is being treated more harshly because of his brother’s crime. The judge also ordered a psychological evaluation, electronic monitoring, no communication with Nikolas Cruz and a search of Zachary’s residence for any weapons. The bond typically is $25, but the judge in Zachary Cruz’s case set bail at $500,000. Normally, trespassing in Broward County is a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a fine of up to $500. On his last visit, Cruz, clad in a white T-shirt, blue shorts and a baseball cap, calmly told deputies he was there to “reflect on the school shooting and to soak it in,” according to a probable cause affidavit. Police say he has visited the campus at least three times since the shooting. Yet Zachary Cruz was arrested last week, accused of trespassing on school grounds. It is the last place some in this community would expect or want to see Cruz’s younger brother. Piles of flowers sit outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, a visual reminder that the campus is still a place where students and faculty honor the lives of the 17 people who were gunned down on Valentine’s Day by Nikolas Cruz.
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