#LYNDA CRUZ NY FULL#

The commission brings together law enforcement, education and mental health officials along with legislators and the parents of student victims. The commission will later discuss how those incidents were handled.

Cruz did not have a juvenile or adult criminal record before the shooting, but his mother did call deputies to their home about 20 times for behavior issues including threats and possible battery.

#LYNDA CRUZ NY FULL#

“Breaking a handle off a faucet had nothing to do with this shooting,” Judd said.īut Judd and other commission members did make several recommendations for improving the Promise Program, including combining school and criminal records so officials can get a full picture of a juvenile’s behavior. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, an outspoken conservative, also agreed that the program played no part. It never in any way, shape, form would have affected his ability to buy that AR-15 and to buy the shotguns, to buy anything else, to possess.” “The Promise Program is irrelevant to Nikolas Cruz. “The Promise Program didn’t fail for Cruz,” Gualtieri said. But Gualtieri said even if the program didn’t exist and Cruz had been charged criminally for breaking the faucet, at most he would have been given a sentence of public service. Records are inconclusive on whether Cruz actually attended Promise or skipped the assignment - school officials originally said he was never referred to the program, but later said they found records showing he was. Nikolas Cruz sits in the Broward County courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on June 8. Records show that almost 90 percent of Promise participants never reoffend, Gualtieri said. They are assessed, given a course of treatment, attend classes and receive counseling aimed at changing their behavior. Under the Promise Program, students who commit minor crimes or conduct violations like minor vandalism, petty theft, harassment and fighting are referred to the off-campus program for two-to-10 days, depending on the offense’s severity. Records show that Cruz was referred to the program as an eighth grader in November 2013, just a few months after it began, after he broke the handle on a bathroom faucet. The program has come under criticism for leniency and because of questions over whether the teen completed the program, particularly among conservatives.īut Gualtieri, a Republican, called the issue “a red herring” and that Cruz’s participation would not have prevented him from buying guns.

Nancy Lanza bought guns for her 20-year-old son despite his severe emotional issues.Īlso, the commission agreed Tuesday that Cruz’s participation in the Broward County school district’s Promise Program in 2013 played no part in the shooting. Similar complaints were made about the mother of Adam Lanza, who killed 26 at a Connecticut elementary school in 2012 after killing her. Gualtieri told members that school and mental health counselors had at least 140 contacts with Nikolas Cruz over the years trying to get him help, but his mother frequently interfered. Lynda Cruz died in November of pneumonia, three months before investigators say her 19-year-old son killed 17 at the school on Valentine’s Day, shooting throughout a three-story classroom building with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. “If he wants to have a gun, he could have a gun,” Gualtieri said Lynda Cruz told his counselors. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, chairman of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, told members that Lynda Cruz was “an enabler” who interfered with efforts to get her son Nikolas Cruz treatment. A commission investigating the Florida high school massacre heard Tuesday the suspect’s late mother allowed him to buy a gun even though his mental health counselors opposed the idea and agreed that a diversion program for students who commit minor on-campus crimes played no part in the shooting.

Lynda cruz ny