I know you’re supposed to be horrified by school shootings, and I am, but from the first description of Nikolas Cruz, my heart went out to him.
No one is justified in shooting up a school. The actions aren’t justified, but they seem tragically predictable. Given his circumstances, I believe he is a victim of Florida’s gun laws, and the NRA. Without easy access to assault rifles, he would just be a lonely outcast, failed by his parents, his school district, and the local police department.
Here’s an interview with a neighbor:
“He had emotional problems and I believe he was diagnosed with autism,” Mr. Gold said of Nikolas Cruz. “He had trouble controlling his temper. He broke things. He would do that sometimes at our house when he lost his temper. But he was always very apologetic afterwards.”
“He would sometimes be hitting his head and covering his ears. One time, I sent him home because he was misbehaving at our house and he took a golf club and smashed one of my trailers.”
He said that Mr. Cruz at one point had gone to a school for students with special needs. “Kids were really picking on him and would gang up on him and beat him up a little,” Mr. Gold said. “They ostracized him. He didn’t have many friends.”
Nikolas was adopted at 2 years old. His father died when he was six. As a child, “Nikolas was moody, prone to an explosive temper and at times seemed to delight in antagonizing others.” People began to avoid him. In school, kids started calling him crazy. He played with his fingers and talked to himself. As he grew older, his mother often called the cops to reprimand him for his outbursts.
Let me stop here and say, HELLO, SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS? HOW ABOUT SOME INTERVENTION? HOW ABOUT SOME BEHAVIORISTS? HOW ABOUT SOME SOCIAL SKILLS CLASSES? HOW ABOUT A CHILD PSYCHIATRIST AND SOME MEDICATION FOR ANXIETY OR MOOD SWINGS?
Instead, Nikolas went to a nice, wonderful, gigantic high school where he could be shunned and act out with weird talk about knives and weapons. The nice wonderful school expelled him because he just wasn’t right in the head. Here’s what a student at the nice school said about Nikolas:
“He was definitely not accepted at our school socially. People saw him as someone who was different than the normal people at our school,” Parodie added.
Douglas High has a place students call “the Emo Gazebo,” he said. “That’s where all the kids that are considered weird or not accepted sat. Kids at the Emo Gazebo didn’t even accept him there. He was just an outcast… He didn’t have any friends.”
“Most kids ignored him at school. They pushed him off to the side as if he was garbage. He screamed in class one time. He was upset and just started yelling at the teacher. The teacher was trying to help him and he just took it the wrong way,” Parodie continued.
Meanwhile, his Instagram is full of guns and weapons. Right in the open for all to see. He is obsessed with them. He comments on someone’s video that he wants to be a “professional school shooter.” He uses his real name!
In November, his mom suddenly died of pneumonia, leaving him alone with no support system. A sympathetic family takes him in. But he is devastated by the loss of his mom, and very depressed.
You know what happened next. Now he’s on suicide watch. His lawyer says he is remorseful and distraught.
I have known families with troubled kids, kids who have conduct disorders along with autism, kids who flip out and can’t manage their impulses. Often, thee kids are sent to residential schools for intensive therapy. And often, they can move back home, more in control and aware of boundaries and consequences.
A few years ago, I had a new neighbor, who had just divorced a very famous movie director. She confided that their son was at a residential school due to his violent outbursts. She loved her boy but was afraid of him. His diagnosis was autism, but he may have been bi-polar as well. Time passed and I saw the kid at the Oscars with his famous dad, looking nicely groomed and very happy.
Poor Nikolas didn’t have a famous rich dad. That’s his crime.
The rest is on the fucking NRA and their flunkies in congress. Thoughts and prayers to those bastards.
I feel for the kid, too, and that’s what he is, a kid. I saw a picture of him in the news yesterday and just felt so terribly sad.
People need to start taking responsibility for society. It can’t exist without input and effort. It’s not just the people in power who are failing, it’s us. So many people knew this kid was struggling and no-one cared.
I guess they care now, but at what cost.
Thank you. I’ve been so struck by what a truly Dickensian life this kid has had. Nothing can forgive the outcome, but my God, can’t we do something – something? anything? – about all the injustices that made this horror possible?
Totally heartbreaking. I got into two separate online “fights” yesterday with people baying for his blood, saying he should be tortured, hanged, blah blah… for fucks sake people…he’s a clearly mentally unstable and disturbed teenager.
Ugh. Sometimes I just hate everybody.
The bastards in DC don’t want to know my “thoughts” and this situation does need prayer…the bastards pray to God to help them pass their agendas! Potus has not mentioned anything about serious gun control laws. It’s all about mental illness! He gives mentally ill people like me a bad name….think I’ll sue….
You are so right. This kid had little impulse control so he bought an assault rifle and used it with no thought to consequences, just like how he responded to other frustrations in his life.
Maybe the FBI missed the last red flag, but this kid was a walking red flag.
These issues should have been addressed by any of the schools he attended. Why didn’t the police ever refer him? I am sure there were many missed opportunities to help him and then mom dies, that really sent him over the edge.
It is a tragic situation all the way around.
I hope they do not execute him but he needs to spend the rest of his life under supervision.
I am sure Florida will execute him.
Metal detectors would do nothing. Teachers with guns is another tragedy waiting to happen.
No one needs an assault weapon, they must be illegal.
I first put a comment on D&N Sister I’d not been aware of prior to last night then, pasted the same comment onto Malcolm’s – I think it (the content) deserves very serious and contemplative consideration in, especially States like mine.
I paste from Duff’s site:
Last evening I noticed and read a piece outta the NRO I considered made some actual sense for a change. Actually it impressed me so much I sent it flying in emails to, among others; Arkansas’ legislators I’ve communicated with in the past, the Lefty editor of a Lefty rag & website I used to communicate a bunch with PT, and, since I was going by there on my way to the liquor store anyway, my local county Sheriff (discussion with the latter, no email).
I pointed out that, in my opinion, it wasn’t a good idea to go monkeying around at the Federal level with the Constitution’s 2nd (as laid out in Federalist 46) but there ought be a perfectly reasonable discussion at the various State levels over a method I hadn’t been aware of before last night.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/02/gun-control-republicans-consider-grvo/
Thing about the various We gotta do something! fanatics is, there’s a zillion examples of laws the Feds manifestly can’t handle – illegal immigration pops out, lying to the IRS, lots of others space limiting.
http://duffandnonsense.typepad.com/duff_nonsense/2018/02/what-can-america-do-about-its-gun-problem.html
I wound up pasting the same comment over on Malcolm’s blog (February 17, 2018 at 5:38 pm) … Malcolm it should be noted got a number of “first timers comments” on his post. Some number which ought/might be obvious I take extreme issue with:
http://malcolmpollack.com/2018/02/16/reaping-the-whirlwind/
Here’s the copied and pasted email I sent to the guy in both instances I referred to as “[T]he Lefty editor of a Lefty rag & website I used to communicate a bunch with …”
Good Morning Max,
For the first time since you advised everybody The ArkBlog’d be putting up a paywall I paid the site a vist – too, as last night I dropped you an email containing a link to an NRO piece authored by one David French entitled “A Gun-Control Measure Conservatives Should Consider” figuring in part maybe, just maybe, there might be some mention of it.
You may know Max I pay attention to a lot of media, too I correspond with the Arkansas delegation to Washington DC (coincidentally ****-******** is my district’s Representative in the House) – and then there’s Mr. Mueller who, why just yesterday as it happens indicted a bunch of Russians whose alleged crimes include a Conspiracy To Set American Parties/Groups At Each Other’s Throats (which, it would appear, worked out pretty good).
Anyway Max, it’s not so important to me I access ArkBlog as having read there awhile I’m already convinced I’ll know everybody’s opinions and how open to dissent “the regulars” are likely to be but, since I’ve gone to the trouble of bringing GVROs to your attention I kinda figured maybe ArkBlog could reciprocate and hyperlink whatever the Dickie Amendment language happens to be?
Frankly Max I’m of the opinion Mr. Mueller would probably consider if he managed to get at least the two of us communicating without yelling past one another (all caps emails for instance) maybe then Mr. Mueller might dare to hope.
*Email Sister so no link.
Y’all of Joanne’s regular commentors haven’t a clue (except that y’all see me commenting here occasionally) who I am, what I’ve experienced, what I do now but despite how mine and Sister Wolf’s personal opinions obviously diverge we, nonetheless have somehow managed to, after a fashion, Love Each Other.
(Which is particularly difficult to comprehend as I reside in “ignurn’t hillbilly-land” Arkansas and Joanne’s living in “obviously in all way superior” California but somehow, we manage it.)
But the larger point is – somehow besides myself and Joanne – we, in this case the larger “We the People” owe it first to those who’ll surely come after (and as best we can manage amongst ourselves) to “make an honest effort to” … I know this reads trite … “get along.”
This is the first and only time I disagree with anything you’ve written on your blog.
His actions were pure malice and nothing else. I would never think to blame mental health or his autism on this.
I grew up in East Europe. I have been through extensive years of bullying with little to no support from the community and with counselling considered an item of luxury, I was never able to access this service. Yet I’ve never thought of buying an assault rifle and shooting up my highschool as much as I despised the place. I got better at communicating, worked on myself and my self-confidence, signed up to drawing classes and graduated just fine.
It’s true I never had a diagnosis of autism, but I can’t think of anything that can possibly excuse such an act of violence, it’s pure evil and I doubt he can be rehabilitated. It’s too late for him. Don’t forget he is also racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic. Let us stop making excuses for these people
It’s too bad that this nation isn’t influenced by some kind of major religion that teaches peaceful coexistence and not taking revenge and caring for those who need it most.
Hey Sarah,
It’s nice that things worked out for you but you aren’t this kid, your experiences don’t come close to paralleling his.
As an adult, I feel responsible for children, for their wellbeing. I may not be American, but allowing a child to fall through society in this way is everyones fault. His acts may be heinous and unforgivable but so are those of the people around him. This isn’t just his problem, though many around him clearly thought it was, and now that he’s made it their problem, perhaps people will start listening, looking, helping (though, I doubt it.)
Self reflection seems too much of an effort. Blaming is easier.
I wonder how many people silently feel ashamed for the way they treated this boy; for every time they didn’t include him, for every time they mocked and ignored him. This tragedy is the fault of more than one person.
When we treat people as less than human, like they have nothing in this world to lose, how can we expect any kind of decent outcome?
I have never disagreed with you more strongly, I am calling this out as bullshit
The constant double standards, manipulation of who wields the power to reform gun laws, plus racial and ethnic disparity that defines America’s justice system is at the core of this case, for me personally.
I would not be willing to bet anything on:
A – The killer coming out alive if anything but white
B – The narrative being; understand where he came from to have empathy for what he became, if he was anything but white
I don’t think you think this, far from it, I am most certainly not saying your opinion would change if he was a different colour, I am saying that it is insidious and true that he is getting a sympathetic media white wash, none of which is deserved or would be available to anybody not white, please, somebody prove me wrong, and name one
Fuck Him and his actions, I don’t want to see him tortured or blah blah blah, whatever else the keyboard warriors are saying should happen to him, but I cannot help but wince at the dont lock him up and throw away the key, help him rhetoric being banded about by people who probably have no idea about the alarmingly high amounts of black and Hispanic people locked up in multiple states, for crimes just not even on the same spectrum, where is the outpouring of empathy and sense of justice for them?
http://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/The-Color-of-Justice-Racial-and-Ethnic-Disparity-in-State-Prisons.pdf
In a nutshell, this boy is being swaddled in a bullet proof blanket of White Privilege
Braindance – It’s great to hear from you!!!! Sorry that we disagree on this. I see from my facebook page that people of color are enraged by my feelings on this terrible event. I was startled but now I sort of understand. I have not advocated going easy on sentencing Nikolas Cruz. I don’t have a special White sympathy for him. I write from the perspective of a special needs mom.
A mom I was thinking about when I wrote this is a black single mom with an autistic son who was over 6 feet tall at 14 years old. He could not control his behavior during meltdowns and once attacked her. Also broke a window and tried to jump out when she called the authorities.
He was supported by his family and community. But what if he wasn’t, and what if someone had sold him an assault rifle?
I will never get over the Trayvon Martin case, and would gladly strangle his killer with my bare hands. Same with Tamir Rice.
But why does my empathy for a mentally disabled teenager make me guilty of a double standard????
Remember when that North Korean prisoner was finally released to his parents, brain dead from torture? As a mother, I was fucking horrified and heartbroken. Then I saw all the stuff on twitter, about FUCK HIM, privileged white guy! But…he was a person! To me, a human person! Not a member of a certain ethnicity.
If we can’t have empathy for all people, even white ones, we are lost.
I will just add, as if it matters, that I am here for prison reform, immigration, and Black reparations. But I’m aware that I’m not woke because I insist on having a voice.
xoxoxoxo
sarah – Thank you for commenting. You are so welcome to disagree. I’m glad that you have overcome adversity. Same here: I have a mental illness and a difficult childhood. But I didn’t have a disorder that involved rage or conduct disregulation. Hearing people on the news refer to the shooter as a “monster” I realize that it’s simpler and more gratifying to dehumanize him than to think about his pain and madness.
Suspended – We are on the same page here, thank you for articulating things so well.
Muscato – I just don’t know. People don’t seem to be in the mood to examine this tragedy in all its aspects. Thank you for assuring me that I’m not alone.
Dj – Why can’t we wake up from the bad dream of Trump? and the NRA?
Marla Griffith – Too god damn right!
Max – Me too, god knows.
Romeo – YES, does a religion like this exist??
Hello Sister, I still come and look for you when I allow myself into internet world, I actually rate you as a reliable and informative source of world affairs, I just don’t often let myself into the abyss, its a terrible and scary place, mostly
I don’t think you are guilty of double standards, the justice system is, (and those who support/believe/endorse it) and it is frustrating when people deny/ignore those critical facts when dissecting horrendous crimes carried out by white people
Same Crime, Corresponding Levels Of Perception:
Black = Gangster/thug/vicious/evil
Brown = Terrorist/God squad mentalist fanatic/evil
White = Mentally Ill, neglected and ostracised
The last sentence you wrote is confusing, you are missing the point, I think?
You cannot be, what I think you are alluding to when you use the word woke, for you are not black in America, it is that simple, how could you wake up from a nightmare you have never experienced, that has been passed down for generations, for hundreds of years?
Every time I have to come to America for work, I physically shudder, I am fearful, and it is 100% driven by the fact I am black, I do not feel safe in this country
You’re right though, a world without empathy is without soul and cold, and my anger is more centred towards the conditions that enabled him, I hate everything he represents and how he is being represented and the double standards within that, I am sorry if that last sentence is woolly, I am jet lagged and at the end of a 14 hour shift
Braindance – Ah, I thought “woke” means to be aware of social and racial injustice and justifiably angry and paranoid. I accept your definition going forward.
YES, the internet is a scary, crazy place and if I were a genie, I’d put it back in the bottle. But I encountered you there so it has not all been awful. I’m sorry my country is so fucked up, I’m sorry it is run by racist morons who literally hate the poor.
I wish we could meet some day! And I hope all is well for you and your family. xoxo
You’re right about the use of the word woke, as am I, the two are inextricably fused
I would take the internet away tonight, and never bring it back, again you’re right though, sometimes little slivers of lushness can take place within it, I still have some of our old gmails, I seem to recall I liked sending you photos of sinuous country lanes and you making me laugh a lot
Country I live in is right up there with America on the we fluffed it list, a clustfuckery of failed capitalism and racist self entitlement, I am guessing that I don’t feel as scared in mine, purely because I am familiar with it
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/anonymous-at-daggers-drawn-with-the-existent-its-defenders-and-its-false-critics
Lord Dampnut is talking about gun control (sort of, and he talks a lot of shit but hasn’t delivered much; turtle man is the slow-and-steady real winner). Do you think the GOP will impeach him now?
Nah, me neither.
Why am I not surprised the suggested answer to gun control is more guns. ‘Let’s arm the teachers.’ I can’t see how this could ever be a better option.
I’m horrified at the thought of any guns, anywhere, in a school.
FFS. What are these people functioning on?
I know this comment is late, but I found this post so moving…
My husband and I were team-bitching about some frustrating, trivial thing when I said, “We should just be glad our kid didn’t get killed today…”
His reply, “Or kill somebody else…”
Somehow, I hadn’t considered the devastation of having your beloved child do something so unspeakably evil to another person…
I feel strong sense of justice in this world. I will never support murderers and rapists. However this kid really got my sympathy. He IS a victim of a failed society. As Sarah mentioned she grew up being bullied so was I but we got over it. My father was murdered when I was ten. Since then I was a very different kid and had very few friends. Miraculously, the only source of strength was from God to help me go through life alone. There is a difference between how male and female operate. When I am furious I have this uncontrollable fury and hatred too and break things. I often wonder if I was a boy would I go extra miles to hurt someone? Would I become a gangster? There is a limit to what a girl can do you know. Nikolas is a troubled, helpless kid who needed special kind of help but he didn’t get it. Instead he built up that rage all these years and exploded. He is not the only one to blame.