FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Parkland school shooter was a child once, a baby-faced kid who posed for pictures with his family and smiled dutifully, a little boy enrolled in day care like so many other children his age.
But still, he was a problem. He got into fights, barely spoke and sometimes acted like an animal.
“I should have done a little more, to make him a better person,” said Anne Marie Fischer, former director of Young Minds Learning Center, the preschool attended by Nikolas Cruz.
Attorneys defending Cruz delved into his younger childhood Tuesday, building their argument that his profound mental problems were recognized early on but never properly addressed.
Cruz is on trial to determine whether he should be punished by death or life in prison for the 17 murders he committed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. Defense lawyers hope that by understanding the defendant’s history, jurors will find reasons to extend to Cruz the mercy he did not show his victims.
Fischer remembered how different Cruz was, and how she brought her concerns to his adoptive parents and to state early learning officials.
The testimony feeds into the idea, put forward Monday by defense attorney Melisa McNeill in her opening statement, that Cruz’s early language problems caused him to act out, even commit violence against others. He communicated with his behavior, instead of language, she said.
Cruz was maskless again in the courtroom Tuesday. He watched his former day care worker intently as she testified about his behavior.
Cruz’s earliest schooling records, from day care, show that he couldn’t conduct himself like other kids. He attacked others, couldn’t communicate well, and isolated himself. “In my opinion I would not say Nikolas was a bully. Nikolas just didn’t have the social skills,” said Fischer.
“Rarely would he go up and participate with a group of kids,” she said. She saw him massaging his arms, possibly “self soothing.”
“I’ve never seen that for someone so young.”
Nikolas’ adoptive parents, Lynda and Roger Cruz, thought he would outgrow it, Fischer said. Roger Cruz was older and already had four kids, and had more parenting skills than Lynda. He dismissed Nikolas’ early behaviors at first, she said.
In these conversations, Lynda Cruz finally shared with Fischer that Cruz was adopted. Fischer wondered if it was a legal adoption, because he went from a troubled birth mother to an older couple.
“She told me later in time that his mother was an addict at birth. When Zachary came along she was trying to tell me they were brothers but I kind of didn’t believe that,” Fischer testified. They had different physical builds, Nikolas being smaller and lighter weight, and different skin tones, and Fischer couldn’t believe an older couple would be granted another adoption.
The adoptions of Nikolas and, later, his brother Zachary were raised in court to show the disparity in their sizes and developmental abilities as children.
Zachary Cruz also attended the early learning childcare center. There were no signs he had any of the issues his older brother had, Fischer said.
Her testimony feeds into a defense argument that Cruz exhibited signs of a disorder from his earliest interactions with adults. Yet no intervention worked. The defense says that Cruz has Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, because his birth mother, the late Brenda Woodard, drank alcohol and used drugs during her pregnancy, according to testimony Monday.
Those behaviors before he was born contributed to his developmental problems as a young child, the defense said. Their mother was in jail and had access to better prenatal care when she was pregnant with Zachary, according to the defense team.
“I don’t mean to criticize in any way or make fun in any way, but that’s one of the things that I most remember about Nikolas is his body size was out of proportion to me,” Fischer said. “His head size didn’t go with his body size. His ear size didn’t go with his head size.”
In cross-examination, prosecutor Steven Klinger took issue with Fischer saying Cruz’s body proportions were off. He put a photo up of young Cruz and talked about his ears. “They’re sticking out” but not much bigger than they should be, Klinger said.
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