Editor’s note: Prosecutors seeking the death penalty against confessed Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz are tasked with convincing a jury to vote for execution over a life sentence. The defense team is trying to persuade the jury that mercy in the form of a life sentence is warranted. This article, which includes some of the images and text created by Cruz as he awaits his sentence, contains details that some readers may find disturbing.
In recorded phone calls this year to a friend, he alternates between looking forward to prison because they serve more vegetables than the jail does, and voicing acceptance that he might be executed. And his violence hasn’t ended. Even with all eyes on him as he approaches trial, Cruz drew murderous sketches in his cell several months ago, threatening to kill a schoolyard enemy and wishing for “another mass shooting.”
One drawing shows an overhead scene of the Parkland school shooting, with Cruz mocking those who called his assault rifle a “machine gun.” His adoration for guns spills out all over the pages, including explicit drawings of his fantasized shooting murder of the former classmate, and a drawing of the “next school shooter” spraying bullets at kids in desks.
His jail calls are all recorded, and summaries of the calls are written by Broward Sheriff’s Office Det. John Curcio. They were released to the Sun Sentinel under public records law. The defense team recently abandoned a “brain mapping” analysis — quantitative electroencephalogram — that was based on images of Cruz’s brain. And this week in court, the killer’s lawyers revealed they’re dropping even more of the disability arguments. Though Cruz was thought by some people, including his mother, to have autism, the defense won’t make that assertion.