FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - 7News took a look of accused Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz’s life while at the Broward County Jail as he was officially indicted.
According to reports, officers at the Broward County Jail have been keeping a very close eye on Cruz. The report said every 15 minutes, an officer would document everything Cruz has done, even if he rolls over in his bed.
In a secret meeting in a Broward County courtroom, a grand jury indicted the accused Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter on 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.
According to investigators, Cruz admitted he used an AR-15 on Feb. 14 to carry out one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history at Stoneman Douglas in Parkland.
“They still don’t know what happened, why this happened,” said attorney Jim Lewis who represents the Snead family. “They don’t have any answers.”
Cruz was living with the Sneads at the time of the shooting. They testified before the grand jury.
“I want everyone to know that we are here. They cooperated. They are trying to do the right thing,” Lewis said. “They are in mourning just like everyone else in this community.”
As Cruz’s criminal case moves forward, 7News has gotten a closer look at his life while behind bars.
According to jail logs, his brother Zachary Cruz has visited him twice.
One of those visits lasted 12 minutes.
Officers have continued to document everything that Cruz does in 15 minute increments. Most of the time, they reported, he is sleeping in his bunk.
He is in solitary confinement and is “isolated from other inmates.”
Officers said he is “clean shaved. Hair groomed. No eye contact given during interaction. Often sits with a blank stare, appears to be in thought.”
On most days, officers said Cruz is “cooperative,” “logical and coherent.”
On Feb. 20, an officer reported “inmate Cruz appeared to break out in laughter both during and immediately following his professional visit.”
Another day they noted that Cruz “ate all of his lunch. Four slices of bread, apple, jelly, peanut butter, cookies, and juice.”
And according to this report, one night he “requested to read a Bible.”
While Cruz spends his time in jail, more details about the months leading up to the massacre have come to light.
Razi, a Coconut Creek gun store owner who did not give his last name, said Cruz actually came to him and tried to buy an AR-15 four months before the shooting.
However, Razi refused to sell it to Cruz because he was under the age of 21.
“This is a store policy we’ve always had,” Razi said. “We don’t sell weapons to people who [are not over] the age of 21 especially not in high school that can buy a weapon like this and just go ahead and kill up the high school basically.”
Razi only realized he had met Cruz when he went back and read this negative review left online. The complaint posted by a Nikolas Cruz said Razi was “very judgmental and denied [him] customer service.”
Ultimately, deputies said, Cruz was able to obtain a weapon and carry out the mass shooting.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.