What to Know About Alleged Florida School Shooter Nikolas Cruz

Authorities said Cruz used an AR-15 rifle — a semi-automatic assault-style rifle that has been used in numerous other mass shootings — in the shooting. Described by former classmates as “loner,” Cruz is an orphaned teenager whose mother died in November 2017, according to The Sun-Sentinel. His mother and her husband, who died years ago, according to the paper, had adopted Cruz and his biological brother. The two boys had then moved in with a family friend, an attorney for the family told the Associated Press.

http://time.com/5159134/who-is-the-florida-shooter-parkland-nicolas-cruz/

The deranged 19-year-old accused of the worst school shooting since the Sandy Hook massacre may have been sent over the edge when his single mom died of complications from the flu in November, family said....

He and younger brother Zachary were adopted as infants by Roger and Lynda Cruz, but Roger died from a heart attack a decade ago, leaving Lynda to raise the boys herself, according to family....

She recalled how Nikolas once sicced his dog on a neighbor’s pig — and how Lynda tried to discipline the boy but may have fallen short.

“He sent over his dog . . . to try to attack them,” Kumbatovic said. “Lynda dealt with it like most parents did. She was probably too good to him.”

https://nypost.com/2018/02/15/moms-flu-death-may-have-sent-florida-massacre-suspect-over-the-edge/

Lynda and her husband, who died of a heart attack several years ago, adopted Cruz and his biological brother, Zachary, after the couple moved from Long Island in New York to Broward County. Cruz was an infant when he was adopted. It's unclear if he was adopted from the U.S. or aboard.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5394229/Florida-high-school-shooting-plunges-city-mourning.html#ixzz57DTVjOaX
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http://thefederalist.com/2015/07/14/guess-which-mass-murderers-came-from-a-fatherless-home/