Sunday, March 18, 2018

Officials Had Decided Parkland Shooter Nikolas Cruz Should Be Forcibly Committed, But Never Actually Got Around to Doing It

... documents in the criminal case against Nikolas Cruz and obtained by The Associated Press show school officials and a sheriff's deputy recommended in September 2016 that Cruz be involuntarily committed for a mental evaluation. 
The documents, which are part of Cruz's criminal case in the shooting, show that he had written the word "kill" in a notebook, told a classmate that he wanted to buy a gun and use it, and had cut his arm supposedly in anger because he had broken up with a girlfriend. He also told another student he had drunk gasoline and was throwing up. 
Calls had even been made to the FBI about the possibility of Cruz using a gun at school. The documents were provided by a psychological assessment service initiated by Cruz's mother called Henderson Behavioral Health. 
The documents show a high school resource officer who was also a sheriff's deputy and two school counselors recommended in September 2016 that Cruz be committed for mental evaluation under Florida's Baker Act. That law allows for involuntary commitment for mental health examination for at least three days. 
Such an involuntary commitment would also have been a high obstacle if not a complete barrier to legally obtaining a firearm, such as the AR-15 rifle used in the Stoneman Douglas massacre on Feb. 14, authorities say. 
There is no evidence Cruz was ever committed. 
Coincidentally, the school resource officer who recommended that Cruz be "Baker Acted" was Scot Peterson — the same Broward Sheriff's Office deputy who resigned amid accusations he failed to respond to the shooting by staying outside the building where the killings occurred.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Since School Resource Officer Scot Peterson recommended the Baker Act be enforced against Cruz, who is/are the individual(s) who did not follow through?