He was quiet and kept to himself, avoiding interaction with his classmates. Nikolas was thin and very small for his age, she said. It was clear he had behavioral and language problems, she told the jury. She taught Nikolas Cruz in both third and fourth grade. Lynn Rodriguez, a retired special ed teacher, was Monday’s first witness. His progress remained slow for years, she said.ĭefense lawyers have asserted that Cruz suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome as a result of his biological mother’s habits while she was pregnant with him. Cruz did not start speaking until he was 2 years old, she said, far later than most children. The jury also heard from speech pathologist Shameka Stanford, who reviewed the defendant’s history and said exposure to alcohol could have had an impact on his brain development. Defense lawyers hope to drum up enough sympathy for Cruz to persuade the jury to spare his life. The jury is tasked with deciding whether Cruz should be sentenced to death or life in prison for the 17 murders he committed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. Prosecutors agreed to let the defense introduce the recording for the jury’s consideration. In poor health, Browd was unable to attend the trial. Her video testimony was recorded before the trial started. Browd offered more glimpses into the Parkland gunman’s childhood, his frequent tantrums, quirky eating habits and inability to get along with other children his age. "There weren't any phone calls or threats that we know of that were made.Jurors heard the story from Finai Browd, a family friend who knew Lynda and Roger Cruz from their time in New York and, with her husband, followed them to South Florida. "There were problems with him last year threatening students, and I guess he was asked to leave campus."Ĭounty school superintendent Robert Runcie, for his part, told a news conference on Wednesday afternoon that new information may come to light, but at the moment, officials believe they had "received no warnings, no indication" that a student had been planning an attack. "We were told last year that he wasn't allowed on campus with a backpack on him," Gard said. Jim Gard, a math teacher who says he had Cruz in his class, told The Miami Herald that the young man had attracted the school's notice, as well. The account her daughter found "is just full of pictures of guns - and she goes, 'That's the kid! That's the kid that bumped into me and was so rude to me when I was a freshman.' You know, it's pretty scary when you recognize somebody who did this." Rozenblat said that her daughter made the connection after the shooting, when she visited the purported Instagram account of the shooter. She came home and told me that story, and it stuck in my mind." "Because back when she was a freshman, I remember her coming home and telling me a story that a kid bumped into her and was really rude and was like, 'Get out of the way, freshman!' And he bumped her. "She knew who the kid was," Rozenblat said. Lissette Rozenblat, the mother of a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, told All Things Considered that her daughter was familiar with Cruz from previous aggressive incidents. Police do not yet know the specific reason for Cruz's expulsion, besides the fact that it was tied to a disciplinary issue. But they never saw anything violent," the attorney said. "He was depressed, maybe a little quirky. They didn't see anything that would suggest any violence," Lewis said, according to The Washington Post. The family that took Cruz into their home "got him a job at the local dollar store. did have some kind of emotional or difficulties," Kumbatovich told the paper. I know he did have some issues and he may have been taking medication. "I know had been having some issues with them, especially the older one. His mother, Lynda Cruz, died of pneumonia less than four months ago at age 68, and his father, Roger Cruz, died when Nikolas and his biological brother, Zachary - also adopted by the Cruz family - were much younger, according to The Sun Sentinel.īarbara Kumbatovich, a sister-in-law of Lynda's who lives on Long Island, N.Y., tells the newspaper that the brothers moved in with a family friend after their mother's death on Nov. "We have already begun to dissect his websites and social media that he was on," Sheriff Scott Israel said at a news conference Wednesday evening, "and some of the things that have come are very, very disturbing."Ĭruz's parents are both deceased.
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