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‘Burn, kill, destroy’: Florida school shooter’s chilling interrogation video

A HAUNTING conversation between a high school shooter and his brother has been captured in a disturbing interrogation video.

Accused Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz said he had demons in his head. Picture: Taimy Alvarez/South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Accused Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz said he had demons in his head. Picture: Taimy Alvarez/South Florida Sun-Sentinel

A MASS murderer’s chilling interrogation video shows the haunting moment he sobbed into his brother’s arms after admitting he killed 17 people.

Prosecutors released the chilling footage of the Florida’s school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz, which shows the young man slouching in a chair, being repeatedly urged by a detective to speak louder and punching himself in the face when he is alone.

Sat handcuffed in his hospital gown, the 19-year-old — who confessed to the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14 — told officers he wanted to die.

At one point, he aims his fingers like a gun at his head. He also repeatedly asked for his brother Zachary, 18.

The suspect was granted his wish. But, when his sibling arrives, he is desperate for answers about the sickening mass shooting.

“People think you’re a monster now,” Zachary told him.

“A monster?” Cruz asked.

“This is not who you are,” Zachary continued. “Like, why?

“Why did you do this?”

Zachary then asks: “What do you think mom would think right now if she was …?”

Their mother Lynda adopted them when they were small babies from the same birth mother. She died of pneumonia three months before the shooting.

In this image from video, Cruz points his fingers to his temple at an interrogation room, while officers are out of the room. Picture: Broward County Sheriff's Office/AP
In this image from video, Cruz points his fingers to his temple at an interrogation room, while officers are out of the room. Picture: Broward County Sheriff's Office/AP

“She would cry,” both brothers agreed.

However, Zachary said he was still there for his brother, despite everything he had confessed to.

“I know what you did today,’ he told him. “Other people look at me like I’m crazy.

“But I don’t care what other people think, I’m your brother, I love you.”

Asking the detective if he can hug his brother, Zachary then stands up and wraps his arms around Cruz who begins to sob uncontrollably.

“You really messed up this time … no one can get you out of this, dog,” Zachary said, as he cried.

“I’m sorry,” Cruz replied. “I love you.”

The pair had a complicated relationship. Cruz said he was bullied by his younger sibling when he was growing up and the siblings can be heard discussing their past in the 15 minute conversation.

The video shows Cruz slouching in a chair, and he is repeatedly urged by the detective to speak louder. Picture: Broward County Sheriff's Office/AP
The video shows Cruz slouching in a chair, and he is repeatedly urged by the detective to speak louder. Picture: Broward County Sheriff's Office/AP

Zachary said he “made it seem like I didn’t care about you when we were growing up”.

“I made it seem like I hate you” he said.

However, he then explained he’d just been trying to survive.

“I didn’t want to seem like a … I didn’t want to look weak,’ he said, apologising for being a ‘dumb jerk’.

“I love you with all my heart. I’m telling you right now I love you.”

Zachary also reminded him of a promise he made after their adoptive mother’s death.

“I told you when we were walking down the hallway that it’s just me and you and I had your back,” Zachary said. “You probably felt like you had nobody but I, I care about you. I literally would pull my heart out for you.”

Zachary can then be heard sobbing and begs his brother not to hurt himself.

“I’m a failure, dude,” Cruz tells him

“You’re not right in the head,” said his brother.

“Just don’t, don’t hurt yourself,” he urged as detectives told them their time was up.

“Please do not kill yourself. Try to find God. Be strong for me.”

“I’ll do it for you,” Cruz replied.

The footage contained the same material as a transcript released earlier in the week, and both were edited to remove what authorities say was a direct confession by Cruz. It shows him hunched over at times, leaning back at others.

He is seen wearing hospital clothes and speaking so softly at the beginning that Broward Sheriff’s Detective John Curcio has to repeatedly urge him to talk louder.

Shortly after entering a small interrogation room, the detective asks Cruz: “You all right? Got to be able to speak so I can hear you.”

At one point, with the police out of the room, the video shows Cruz take two fingers, put them to his left temple and pretend to pull a trigger.

He gave a little shake after doing this.

At one point, the video shows Cruz speaking with his brother. Picture: Broward County Sheriff's Office/AP
At one point, the video shows Cruz speaking with his brother. Picture: Broward County Sheriff's Office/AP

Later, he is seen punching himself hard in the face with both hands and occasionally scratching at his right arm with a small object he picked up off the floor.

Much of the interrogation focused on a demonic voice Cruz claims he has heard inside his head for years that urges him to commit violent acts.

“I WANT TO DIE”

When asked what the voice usually said, Cruz answered, “Burn. Kill. Destroy.” He also said the voice told him to cut himself.

At another point with Curcio out of the room, Cruz mutters, “Kill me,” and then, later, “I want to die.”

In other developments, a sheriff leading the state commission investigating the massacre said on Wednesday that the suspect’s behaviour before the shooting was a “rollercoaster”, where he would have stretches of good conduct before it deteriorated.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission that Cruz’s fluctuating behaviour through the years made it difficult for school officials to determine how he should be handled.

Cruz, a 19-year-old former student at Stoneman Douglas, is charged with killing 17 people in the Valentine’s Day attack there.

Cruz arrives in court on for a hearing. Picture: Wilfredo Lee/AP
Cruz arrives in court on for a hearing. Picture: Wilfredo Lee/AP

“It was really a rollercoaster with Cruz really from birth,” Gualtieri said.

A report released last week by the Broward County school district said he began showing behavioural issues that got him kicked out of pre-kindergarten.

He spent his school years shuttling between regular campuses and those for children with emotional and behavioural problems.

“He had some really bad low times but at times he was without behavioural issues,” Gualtieri said.

BEHAVIOUR “DIVEBOMBED”

Earlier, at Wednesday’s public safety commission session, Gualtieri said there were times in middle school and at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that Cruz’s behaviour “dive-bombed,” and he required an escort to monitor him.

Gualtieri didn’t go into details, but it has been previously reported that Cruz got into fights, committed vandalism, cursed teachers and drew a swastika on his backpack.

Administrators conducted a threat assessment of him in 2016, about five months before he was kicked out of the school. The 14 appointed members and five ex-officio members will learn more about Cruz’s educational, mental health and medical history during a closed session Thursday as they conclude their monthly two-day meeting.

The commission must file a report with its findings of what led to the shooting and recommendations for system improvements by January 1.

Nikolas Cruz is arrested in the wake of the shootings. Picture: Supplied
Nikolas Cruz is arrested in the wake of the shootings. Picture: Supplied

Commission members include law enforcement and educational officials, mental health professionals, a legislator and two parents of students who died in the attack. Guy Grace, the security head for the Littleton, Colorado, school district, presented the commission with suggestions for improving safety at Florida’s schools.

He said his district boosted security after the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School that left 13 dead plus the two student attackers.

He said measures can range from hi-tech solutions such as camera systems that can alert monitors to potential problems to simply making doors easier to lock. Stoneman Douglas teachers complained after the shooting that their classrooms couldn’t be locked from the inside — they had to go into the hallway with a key.

Grace said his district has also issued devices to all staff members allowing them to initiate a lockdown at their schools.

— with wires

The massacre prompted protests and a nationwide call for action against gun violence. Picture: Timothy A Clary/AFP
The massacre prompted protests and a nationwide call for action against gun violence. Picture: Timothy A Clary/AFP
Could more guns be the answer?

Originally published as ‘Burn, kill, destroy’: Florida school shooter’s chilling interrogation video

Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/burn-kill-destroy-florida-school-shooters-chilling-interrogation-video/news-story/8300a3305f93ef53e5c344a25716213a