Nikolas Cruz asked if people “ate” the bodies of dead people and wanted to know what it “sounded like” when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated during a middle school lesson on the Civil War, according to disturbing evidence shown in court.
Jurors at the 23-year-old’s sentencing trial on Tuesday were shown a functional behavioural assessment carried out by school staff when Cruz was in eighth grade at West Glades Middle School in Parkland, Florida.
In it, the staff member detailed one incident from 11 September 2013 where Cruz “became fixated on death and assassination of Abraham Lincoln” and asked a lot of questions about the shooting and what happened to the corpses of people killed in the Civil War.
“Nikolas returned from being out of Internal Suspension. After discussing and lecturing about the Civil War in America, Nikolas became fixated on death and assassination of Abraham Lincoln,” it reads.
“Some questions he asked were ‘What did it sound like when Lincoln was shot? Did it go pop, pop, pop really fast? Was there blood everywhere? After the war, what did they do with all of the bodies? Did people eat them?’”
The account was one of a trove of reported incidents of aggression, disruptive behaviour and a fascination with firearms documented in the behavioural assessment.
Cruz was a student at the school – a general education school – from 2011 to 2013.
In another incident, dated 4 September 2013, Cruz was found to have drawn pictures of shooting victims and nude images of people.
“Nikolas drew questionable depiction on his vocabulary worksheet. Nick was asked to erase them and fix his work,” the note reads.
“Nick drew naked stick figures (showing body parts) and drew pictures of people shooting each other with guns.”
Other incidents also showed Cruz often spoke about guns.
On 17 October 2013, Cruz’s class was discussing a book and Cruz deliberately read aloud the last couple of pages to ruin the ending, according to the notes.
When told to stop he told the school staff member that he disliked the book but announced that he liked guns.
“He stated, ‘I like guns’ can we talk about that,” the note read.
On another day, the notes from staff members state that “Nikolas will find any excuse to bring up guns”.
Multiple occasions also detail that Cruz often used obscenities and destroyed things.
The documents were presented by the prosecution during the cross-examination of Jessica Clark Flournoy, who was Cruz’s counsellor at West Glade Middle School.
She did not author the notes and testified that Cruz behaved in her counselling sessions and never spoke of his fascination with guns to her.
Ms Flournoy was shown notes from one session on 20th March 2013 which said that Cruz stopped checking his grades because “he felt that if his ship is going to sink, he rather go down with the ship being known for something (i.e. doing something to be remembered by)”.
The prosecutor compared those comments to a video Cruz made just three days before the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.
In the video, Cruz spoke of his notoriety over the crime.
“It’s going to be a big event and when you see me on the news you will all know who I am. You’re all going to die. I can’t wait,” he said.
The prosecutor questioned Ms Flournoy whether it showed Cruz “wanted to be known for something even back in 2013”.
The judge sustained an objection from the defence but did not strike it from the record.
Prosecutors also sought to argue that Cruz was able to control his behaviour and acted out “intentionally” so that he would be moved to another school.
According to another student, Cruz asked them one time after acting out: “How am I still at the school?”
Jurors were also shown some notes showing that Cruz behaved in front of a male assistant principal and then acted out when he left the room.
Ms Flournoy confirmed that Cruz behaved in her counselling sessions.
When asked whether his differences in actions indicated he was able to control his behaviour, she agreed, saying “he had the ability to make choices”.
In February 2014, Cruz was moved from West Glades to Cross Creek – a school that focuses on student’s special education needs. In early 2016, he transferred again – this time to Marjory Stoneman Douglas where he stayed until February 2017, when he was sent to an adult learning centre.
One year later, on 14 February 2018, Cruz travelled to Marjory Stoneman armed with an AR-15.
The then-19-year-old stalked the corridors of the freshman building, murdering 17 students and staff members.
Last October, Cruz pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder over the Valentine’s Day killings.
Jurors will now decide whether to sentence him to life in prison without parole or to death.
Prosecutors spent three weeks detailing how Cruz murdered 17 students and staff members and wounded 17 more, with jurors hearing from grieving family members and touring the school site.
Now, Cruz’s defence is presenting its case, seeking to show that Cruz’s actions that day were the culmination of his life up to that point – from him being exposed to drugs and alcohol in the womb through his birth mother, to behavioural and psychological issues from an early age, and the deaths of both of his adopted parents.
