She Gave Nikolas Cruz an Ultimatum: The Gun Goes, or You Do. He Chose the Gun.
March 21, 2018 by admin
Filed under Choosing Lingerie
Ms. Deschamps spoke on the same day that a judge in Florida set a $500,000 bond for Mr. Cruz’s younger brother, Zachary, who was charged with trespassing, accused of skateboarding through the Stoneman Douglas High schoolyard after school let out on Monday. It was the third time Zachary Cruz, 18, had visited the school since the shooting, said the prosecutor, Sarahnell Murphy. He was booked into the same jail where his brother is being held.
Ms. Murphy said Mr. Cruz has visited his brother in jail since the Feb. 14 shooting, “where he has been heard and observed discussing how popular his brother is now, that his face is everywhere and his name is national.”
“There is discussion about starting some sort of pen pal or fan club,” Ms. Murphy said. “And about how many girls he is capable of attracting.”
Judge Kim Theresa Mollica of Broward County Court ordered Zachary Cruz, once he is released, to wear an ankle monitor and to stay away from all schools, and she barred him from visiting his brother in jail.
Mr. Cruz, in shackles and a jumpsuit, appeared by remote video link at the hearing and did not speak.
His lawyer, Joseph Kimok, called the bond and the judge’s restrictions on his movement “entirely disproportionate.”
“He is being held because of who he is related to, not because of anything he did,” Mr. Kimok said.
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The high school, whose students have become leaders in the student gun control movement, continues to reel from the tragedy. On Tuesday alone, three students were arrested: one who was accused of posting threatening messages on Snapchat, and two who were accused of bringing knives to school, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
A deputy stationed at the school, meanwhile, was suspended after a student reported seeing him sleeping on duty the day before. And Gov. Rick Scott offered to send state troopers to ensure that every entry point on campus was guarded.
Ms. Deschamps, whose phone calls to 911 had previously been disclosed through public records releases, made her first public appearance at a news conference in Manhattan with Gloria Allred, the lawyer known for representing women in sexual harassment cases.
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Ms. Deschamps read a prepared statement, and Ms. Allred did not allow her to answer questions. Ms. Allred said that Ms. Deschamps was speaking out because she believed that “the system failed the victims of the Parkland tragedy, even though she did everything she could do to prevent it.”
She added: “Rocxanne reached out to me because she is concerned that there were many false statements made about her, and she wanted to share her truth about what really happened.” Ms. Allred did not elaborate.
Ms. Deschamps said she got to know the Cruz family when they were neighbors in Parkland. Ms. Deschamps said she first noticed Mr. Cruz’s fascination with guns — and that his mother was afraid of him — when she stayed with Ms. Cruz, whose husband died of heart disease in 2004, for three weeks in October 2016.
Ms. Cruz died of pneumonia at age 68 in November. Ms. Deschamps said that before Nikolas moved in, she told him that he could not bring any guns into her house, except BB guns, and that those were to be locked in the room of her adult son, Rock.
At first Mr. Cruz was on his best behavior, Ms. Deschamps said. But then her mother, who was living with them, found a receipt in Mr. Cruz’s room for a gun and bullets from Dick’s Sporting Goods. They did not find the gun, because it was still in the mandatory waiting period. But her son, Rock, called 911 nonetheless and asked if Nikolas could be stopped from receiving the gun.
“They said they couldn’t stop him from buying or having possession of a gun,” Ms. Deschamps said. “I told them that Nikolas was 19 years old, but he felt mentally and emotionally as similar as a 12-year-old.”
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After the Parkland shooting, Florida raised the minimum age to buy a firearm to 21.
She made the second call to 911 after her mother saw Mr. Cruz digging a hole in the backyard. They found a large empty gun box the same size as the hole, she said. They called 911 and explained to the officer that “we were afraid of his intentions,” Ms. Deschamps said.
“The police said that anyone was allowed to bury a gun, and that Nikolas was allowed to do that,” she said.
The third call occurred after Nikolas had been punching holes in the wall and her son interceded, saying “he must not disrespect me and not destroy our home.” Nikolas punched her son, she said, “and Rock defended himself.”
She called 911, but Nikolas fled the house before the police arrived.
She told the police about previous incidents in which Nikolas had put a gun to his mother’s head and his brother’s head. “Law enforcement said that nothing could be done,” she said.
When Mr. Cruz returned to the house, Ms. Deschamps said, she told him he had to choose between them or the gun. “He chose the gun,” she said.
She offered to help find Mr. Cruz a place. He went to a friend’s house for a short while, and then to a schoolmate’s house, where he was living when the shooting occurred.
“Unfortunately,” Ms. Deschamps said, “although I did everything I could, I was not able to stop this tragedy from taking place.”
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