FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Parkland gunman’s eighth grade teacher was so troubled by his disturbing schoolwork that she saved a copy for her records in case it was ever needed.
Those documents now provide crucial insight into the mind of a killer-in-the-making after Nikolas Cruz shot and killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day in 2018 — five years after he was an out-of-control student scribbling swastikas, curse words, racial slurs and homicidal stick figures shooting each other in the notebook he used for Carrie Yon’s language arts class at Westglades Middle School.
Yon kept a meticulous record of her interactions with Cruz, knowing from the time she met him that he was going to be a problem. At one point, hoping to encourage better behavior, she told Cruz she knew he could behave and was a good kid. His response was chilling.
