Students are evacuated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during a shooting incident in a still image from video in Parkland, Florida, Feb. 14, 2018. (WSVN via Reuters)
Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz said “kill me” hours after shooting 17 people at the high school he used to attend, according to a newly disclosed transcript.
The transcript records the conversation between Cruz and a detective on Feb. 14, the day that Cruz walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and shot 33 people, killing 17. Cruz confessed to the shooting.
The long conversation between Cruz and the detective is mostly redacted, but it reveals that Cruz heard voices in his head that told him to carry out the shooting.
The 19-year-old, who was troubled and denied psychological help in the 14 months before the shooting, said that he'd tried to commit suicide twice, once just weeks before the shooting and the other time some years back.
When the detective exited the room early in the interview to grab water bottles for himself and Cruz, Cruz was captured on camera shouting to himself: “Kill me. Just [expletive] kill me.”
Nikolas Cruz sits next to his attorneys appointed by the Broward Public Defender’s Office as a judge determines if he can afford his own lawyer, in Broward Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on April 11, 2018. (Taimy Alvarez/Pool via Reuters)
After the interrogation, which lasted on and off for 11 hours, Cruz’s brother Zachary Cruz was brought into the room.
He told his brother that people now think he’s a “monster” and wondered, “why did you do this?”
“You’re not acting like yourself. Like, why? Like, we’ve ... this is not who you are. Like, come on. Why did you do this? This is ... don’t even laugh at me,” Zachary Cruz said.
“I’m sorry, dude,” Nikolas Cruz replied.
“You'll get through this,” his brother replied. “It’s gonna suck for a while but just stay strong. I love you.”
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Cruz faces 17 counts of premeditated murder and could get the death penalty if convicted.
His attorneys have said he would plead guilty if the death penalty is taken off the table but prosecutors have rejected that proposal.
