In the wake of the mass murder of seventeen souls at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida nearly two weeks ago, there has been much discussion about Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz. What led the 19-year-old to intentionally plan a mass shooting and kill and destroy so many lives? Immediately, the media began digging into his past.
Dozens of calls to police about his behavior. A system that consistently failed to get him the mental health and behavioral therapy he clearly needed. Recently orphaned, his dad died in 2007 but his mother just within the past year or so. CNN reports that since 2008, police received over 45 calls about either Cruz or his brother. They started when Cruz was just nine years old, and 39 of them came from Cruz’s own house. CNN says the descriptions of the calls “include mentions of a ‘mentally ill person,’ ‘child/elderly abuse,’ ‘domestic disturbance,’ ‘missing person,’ and more.”