FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A California man accused of making online threats toward the families of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting victims appeared in a South Florida court.
Twenty-one-year-old Brandon Fleury and his father covered their faces as they walked out of the Broward County Federal Courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Monday afternoon.
His father, Patrick Fleury, said his son is a good person.
“It was a miscommunication. My son is a good boy; he had a few days of bad luck,” he told a 7News crew as he walked away. “Come on, he doesn’t do bad things.”
The younger Fleury doesn’t work and lives with his father and brother in Santa Ana, California.
The suspect was soft-spoken and quiet when he faced a federal judge, who told him he faces very serious charges.
Fleury told investigators he has a fascination with Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz.
Police said the 21-year-old targeted the families of the MSD victims, particularly Jaime Guttenberg’s brother in late 2018.
Federal prosecutors said Fleury created the handle “Nikolas.Killed.Your.Sister” and wrote “I killed your loved ones hahaha” on Instagram.
He went on to write things such as “Your grief is my joy,” “With the power of my AR-15 I erased their existence,” and “They had their whole lives ahead of them and I (expletive) stole it from them.”
According to the FBI, Fleury even sent Jaime’s brother a direct message saying, “I killed your sister. It was fun,” while threatening to kidnap them.
When asked if he has a message for the victims’s families, Fleury’s father replied, “If you want me to tell you something, I’m going to be going against what my lawyers told me not to [do]. My son’s got problems, but he’s a good boy.”
Fleury is also accused of targeting Alex Schachter’s family, writing from another account, “Nikolas the murderer.”
He made statements such as “Little AS will never play music again” and “I killed Scott Beigel! I shot him dead! I enjoyed it too.”
Alex’s father, Max Schachter, spoke with 7News last week, saying, “I want to thank the FBI for all of their efforts in bringing this individual into custody.”
When asked whether his son has mental issues, the suspect’s father said, “He does a little bit, but he’s a good kid. He’s controlled, he really is. This is blown up out of proportion. I love the media, but in this case, you guys got negative about a kid that’s got 22 years of goodness. He’s got no criminal record, no history of violence.”
Fleury’s father later said, “I apologized for him.”
The FBI traced the IP addresses to Fleury’s California address. According to the complaint, he confessed to creating some of the accounts, showing no remorse.
The judge ruled Fleury cannot have any access to the internet and can’t even have a cellphone.
Fleury and his father are on their way back to California, but they are scheduled to return to Fort Lauderdale for his arraignment on Feb. 11. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.
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