Nikolas Cruz’s teacher reveals harrowing notes about his ‘dangerous’ behaviour years before Parkland shooting
Nikolas Cruz’s eighth grade teacher has revealed in court her detailed notes about the risk she feared he posed to those around him years before he perpetrated the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Cruz pleaded guilty last October to murdering 17 people and wounding 17 others at the high school in 2018 and is now in the midst of a sentencing trial that will determine whether he is sentenced to death or to life in prison.
On Thursday, the jury heard from language arts teacher Carrie Yon that Cruz expressed violent ideation during his eighth grade year at Westglades Middle School – and that Ms Yon attempted to warn others that she was concerned about what Cruz was capable of.
“I strongly feel that Nikolas is a danger to the students and faculty at this school,” Ms Yon wrote on a close functional behaviour assessment form at the time.
“I do not feel that he understands the difference between his violent video games and reality. He is constantly showing aggressive behavior and poor judgment. His drawings in class show violent acts (people shooting at each other) or creepy sexual pictures (dogs with large penises). He has pretended to masturbate in class, he uses foul language and disregards everyone around him.”
Ms Yon stated at the conclusion of that comment that she would “like to see him sent to a facility that is more prepared and has the proper setting to deal with this type of child”.
Throughout her testimony, Ms Yon recalled Cruz as a deeply troubled student who consistently struggled with anger management, antisocial behavior and an obsession with violence.
Ms Yon said that she did not feel safe around Cruz, and at times another teacher would come to her room when she felt particularly uncomfortable with Cruz.
Ms Yon said she attempted to communicate the gravity of the situation to Cruz’s parents, but said that his mother would make excuses for his behaviour and at times reward him by letting him play video games at the family’s home. A former Parkland neighbor, Paul Gold, testified earlier in the trial that Ms Cruz was afraid of her son.
Ms Yon said she believed that Cruz was trying to get expelled from Westglades, a public middle school in Parkland that sends a number of students to Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School each year.
