![]() His adoptive mother, Lynda Cruz, also told Broward sheriff's deputies he had obsessive-compulsive disorder and anger issues. Cruz saw it happen and alerted his adoptive mother.ĭoctors diagnosed Cruz with several disorders and conditions while he was a child: depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, emotional behavioral disability and autism, records from the state Department of Children and Families show. His adoptive father died of a heart attack when Cruz was 5. When she was five months pregnant with him, she was arrested for buying crack cocaine.Ī Parkland couple adopted Cruz at birth. 24, 1998, to a woman with a history of drug use. 'A broken child,' 'a professional school shooter'Ĭruz's massacre followed a troubled childhood and adolescence. ![]() The defense also listed witnesses, many of them mental health experts who have analyzed Cruz, whose mental health is likely to be at the center of the trial. The state has listed more than 1,000 witnesses but said it is unlikely all of them will testify. Mitigating factors that the defense will likely argue include Cruz committing the offense under severe mental or emotional disturbance. They must find at least one aggravating factor to be proven, and it must outweigh the mitigating ones.Īggravating factors can include the heinous, cruel, or depraved manner of the crime and substantial planning and premeditation to cause death, among others. In order for a person to be sent to death row, the jury weighs aggravating and mitigating factors. "But, they'll get through enough jurors who will say 'I will be objective, I will follow the law.'" "It is impossible on a case like this to get a fair and impartial jury," he said. Richard Lubin, a Palm Beach County attorney who has handled high-profile cases before but is not involved with the Cruz case, said the notoriety of the case will make choosing a fair jury difficult. Throughout April, lawyers will spend Monday through Wednesday selecting possible jurors and Thursday and Friday for hearings related to evidence.įinding jurors in Broward County who do not have strong emotions about the case is one problem the court will face in trying to seat a jury. Jury selection is expected to take weeks and end with 20 jurors, eight of them being alternates. Why the sentencing will resemble a trialĮvidence that would have been shown to the court had Cruz undergone a criminal trial will be shown during the penalty phase, which is expected to take months because of the severity of the crime and the number of victims. He shot students in the hallways and through the window of classrooms with the AR-15. He passed by at least two unarmed security guards and a student before he started shooting at 2:21 p.m.Ĭruz roamed the hallways of the first floor of Building 12, the primary building for freshmen on the north side of campus. He stored the AR-15 in a bag that made it look like a musical instrument, and told the driver he was headed for music class. On the day of the massacre, Cruz, then 19, took an Uber to the school from a nearby home where he was living. A witness identified Cruz after an officer had him in handcuffs. After the shooting, Cruz walked to a Walmart immediately west of campus and ordered a drink at the Subway sandwich shop, before he left and stopped at a McDonald's.Ī police officer arrested Cruz at 3:37 p.m., 2 miles southwest of campus.
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