Nikolas Cruz Social Media: Unverified Instagram And YouTube Comments May Show School Shooting Was Long-Planned
Nikolas Cruz may have left clues on social media about the motive and planning for Wednesday’s school shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, where police say the 19-year-old opened fire in his former high school in an attack that left 17 people dead.
In the hours since the shooting, there has been a scramble to learn more about the suspect allegedly behind the attack, with some interviews from those who know Cruz along with unverified social media accounts that may give more clues.
In a breakdown of the evidence available so far about Nikolas Cruz, Gizmodo noted that the suspect appears to have left clues about the school shooting across social media. While the report cautioned that the social media pages had not been confirmed, it noted that Nikolas Cruz had an Instagram page that showed a number of pictures of guns and others of what appeared to be slaughtered animals.
The site also found screenshots of YouTube comments from an account allegedly belonging to Nikolas Cruz, which apparently made reference to plans to carry out a mass shooting. On one video of footage of the 1966 University of Texas mass shooting, the account warned, “I am going to what he did.”
While these accounts have not been officially connected to Nikolas Cruz, local authorities have verified that he did have a social media presence and it apparently did give potential clues to his motive.
Nikolas Cruz, identified as Florida high school shooting suspect, reportedly showed warning signs https://t.co/yZCoqXvukg via @FoxNews
— James a. Houston (Dogman) (@dogmandiet) February 15, 2018
“We have already begun to dissect his websites and things on social media that he was on, and some of the things that have come to mind are very, very disturbing,” said Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel (via BuzzFeed).
There are other potential clues to the Florida high school shooting beyond the unverified social media accounts of suspect Nikolas Cruz. The New York Times tracked down some former classmates, who said he was a troubled young man and that some people even openly joked that he might commit a school shooting.
“He always had guns on him,” an unnamed student told WFOR-TV. “The crazy stuff that he did was not right for school, and he got kicked out of school multiple times for that kind of stuff.”
School officials were apparently worried that Nikolas Cruz could pose a threat to the school. Math teacher Jim Gard told the Miami Herald that after Cruz was expelled from the school, teachers were warned not to let him back on the premises with a backpack on him.
Police have yet to officially verify whether the social media accounts connected to Nikolas Cruz, including the disturbing Instagram and YouTube posts, actually belong to the alleged school shooter.
