Florida School Shooter’s Brother Arrested for School Trespassing

The Sun Sentinel reports that the brother of the man who killed 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was arrested on Monday for trespassing.

Zachary Cruz, 18, “rode his skateboard at 4:30 p.m. across the campus where his older brother, Nikolas Cruz, went on a shooting spree with an AR-15 rifle,” according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.

Cruz told deputies that he visited the school “to reflect on the school shooting and to soak it in,” according to the arrest report.

Zachary Cruz (Broward County Sheriff’s Office)
Nikolas Cruz

Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie said the school’s gates are opened after the school day ends at 2:40 p.m. to enable students to participate in after-school activities. During school hours the gates are locked.

School officials warned Cruz to stay away from the school. Runcie said that Cruz didn’t breach security; “He came through whatever gate was open at the time. Somebody spotted him and reported him to BSO. They responded quickly.”

Cruz’s brother faces the death penalty for the murder of 17 and the attempted murder of 17 others.

According to a report from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Zachary Cruz said on the night of his brother’s shooting spree, “I don’t want to be alive. I don’t want to deal with this stuff.”

Two days after the shooting he told a deputy that he felt “somewhat responsible and guilty about the incident and that he could have possibly prevented [it],” that report said. He also told the deputy that he “doesn’t understand why his brother would have done this.”

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