PARKLAND, FLA. (WSVN) - Authorities have released the interrogation tapes of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz.
He was interrogated for 12 hours after the Feb. 14 shooting that left 17 students and staff members dead.
Video shows Cruz wearing a blue hospital gown as he is being questioned by Broward Sheriff’s Office detective John Curcio.
Cruz was evaluated by a doctor shortly before he was questioned for 12 hours.
Transcripts from the interrogation were released earlier this week that revealed Cruz told a detective that a demon in his head – “the evil side” – told him to burn, kill and destroy, and that he thought about going to a park to kill people about a week before the shooting.
- Read: Nikolas Cruz Interrogation Transcript (**Warning graphic language and reader discretion advised**)
Video also shows Curcio asking Cruz about the voice in his head.
Detective John Curcio: “When you hear the voices, are they like outside your head or inside your head when you hear them?”
Nikolas Cruz: “Inside.”
Detective John Curcio: “OK, so it’s not like you don’t hear voices from that corner talking to you. It’s inside your head. Is it always the same voice or only one voice?”
Nikolas Cruz: “One voice, the same.”
Detective John Curcio: “It’s a man’s voice?”
Nikolas Cruz: “Yes.”
Detective John Curcio: “Does it sound like anybody you’ve ever met?”
Nikolas Cruz: (Nods)
Detective John Curcio: “Anybody you’ve ever seen on TV?”
Nikolas Cruz: “I try to control it but…”
Detective John Curcio: “Well, how do you control it?”
Nikolas Cruz: “I try to be moving.”
Detective John Curcio: “OK, so if you’re sitting still, do you hear the voice more than if you’re moving? Do you hear the voice when you’re in bed at night sleeping?”
Nikolas Cruz: “Yes.”
Detective John Curcio: “Do you always obey what the voice tells you to do?”
Nikolas Cruz: “I try not to.”
Detective John Curcio: “On any given week, how many times do you think you hear the voice?”
Nikolas Cruz: “Once every day.”
Detective John Curcio: “Was the voice helping you pick out the gun or was it just you picking out the gun.”
Nikolas Cruz: “No, it was the voice.”
Cruz also said he listened to the voices because it was better than being alone by himself. He said he was lonely and had no friends.
Detective John Curcio: “When you cut yourself, it’s because the voice told you to cut yourself, and if you didn’t talk or you didn’t listen to the voice, then you were gonna be alone because your voice was your only friend? That’s kind of what you’re saying?”
To that last question Cruz just nodded in the affirmative.
Cruz said he began hearing the voices in 2005 when his father passed away, but it got worse when his mother passed away last year.
At some point while in the interrogation room, Cruz is seen pretending to shoot himself and punching himself in the face several times.
The investigator said he did not believe Cruz’s story that he was listening to demons and said he’s making up as an excuse for the shooting.
In the interrogation room, Cruz said he went fishing the day of the mass shooting and purposely cut himself on the arm with a knife.
Cruz also admitted to trying to commit suicide several times.
He said it was once by taking pills, another by drinking alcohol, thinking he could die from alcohol poisoning.
Cruz’s brother Zachary Cruz is also seen towards the end of the interrogation, asking his brother what their deceased mother would think about the shooting, to which Cruz responded, “She would cry.”
The video was initially expected to be released Tuesday, but it was pushed back.
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