PARKLAND, Fla. — The system that failed to protect the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School from mass shooter Nikolas Cruz cannot afford to make the same mistake with his brother, a Broward prosecutor argued Tuesday.
Zachary Cruz, 18, poses the same threat as his older brother — and his decision to trespass onto the Stoneman Douglas campus after school Monday is a warning sign that cannot be ignored, Assistant State Attorney Sarahnell Murphy said in court.
Weeks after his brother “murdered, injured and terrorized” the school, Zachary Cruz showed up on campus “with no legitimate purpose,” Murphy said. “He has all the same flags present as his brother.”
A judge set bond at $500,000 for Cruz and ordered a host of pretrial conditions more often seen in felony cases than misdemeanors. And before Cruz is released from jail, police are to search his caretaker’s home in Lantana and remove all firearms.
Later Tuesday, the Broward Sheriff’s Office filed a petition for a “temporary risk protection order” under the state’s new gun law, identifying Zachary Cruz as someone who “poses a significant danger of causing personal injury to himself or others by having a firearm.”
If granted, the order would give the Sheriff’s Office the legal authority to seize guns found in Cruz’s home and prevent him from purchasing or possessing a firearm for one year.
In the meantime, authorities involuntarily hospitalized Zachary Cruz for a mental-health evaluation under the state’s Baker Act, according to a sheriff’s news release.
Deputies said one reason they are concerned with Zachary Cruz, according to the petition, is that they asked him his plans for the future and he responded, “I don’t know right now.”
His brother Nikolas Cruz is charged with 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the Feb. 14 mass shooting at the Parkland high school.
Zachary Cruz admitted to police Monday that he rode his skateboard onto the campus, ignoring orders to stay away from the school, to reflect on what his brother had done, according to an arrest report.
Murphy said Cruz’s late afternoon visit left the Stoneman Douglas community in fear, with some parents refusing to let their teenage children go back to the school on Tuesday. “They have again been terrorized,” she said.
At least one student at the school Tuesday said he thought the bail amount was excessive.
“I’m not worried about the Cruz family,” said Chris Donnelly, 17, a junior.
Others said it’s frightening that Zachary Cruz admitted trespassing on the school campus three times since the massacre.
“That’s crazy,” said Josef Bagiv, 16, a junior. “Just weird.”
Conner Gandy, 17, a senior, said Zachary Cruz should have at least warned people before he visited the school. Cruz’s showing up “frightens everyone,” given how depressed he might be, he said.
“It’s weird and suspicious, but I don’t think he would do anything,” he said.
Since his arrest Monday, Zachary Cruz has had contact in jail with his brother, Murphy said.
“He has been heard and observed discussing how popular his brother is now,” she said. “That his face is everywhere and his name is national.”
Murphy said there has been a discussion about starting a pen pal or fan club and the fact that Nikolas Cruz is capable of attracting a lot of girls.
In court Tuesday, Murphy told Broward County Judge Kim Mollica that it would be irresponsible to treat the new case as a typical trespassing infraction.
“His mother and father are deceased, his brother is incarcerated,” Murphy said.
During his arrest, Zachary Cruz gave authorities an address where he used to live in Parkland.
Murphy said the guardian Cruz lives with in Lantana, Rocxanne Deschamps, was in New York when he was arrested Monday and had no idea how or why he went to the school. Deschamps was in New York to participate in a news conference, where she described her family’s hardships from living with Nikolas Cruz.
If Zachary Cruz is able to post a bond, he will be fitted with an ankle monitor to track his movements, Mollica said.
He will not be allowed within a mile of Stoneman Douglas or within 500 feet of any school campus.
He is not to enter Broward County except for court-related business. Cruz would have to raise 10 percent of the bond amount to go free as he waits for his case to be resolved.
Defense lawyer Joseph Kimok objected to the bond amount, noting that a typical case of trespassing comes with a $25 bond.
Zachary Cruz “is being held because of who he is related to, not because of anything he did,” Kimok said. “The state has been seeking to make a show of this.”
Cruz did not speak during Tuesday’s hearing. Kimok and prosecutors declined to comment after the hearing.
Zachary Cruz also was committed for mental health treatment under the Baker Act after the shooting, Murphy said during Tuesday’s hearing.
State records show he had two prior run-ins in 2016 with Coral Springs police, being detained on larceny and criminal mischief charges.
Stoneman Douglas’ school day ends at 2:40 p.m. Zachary Cruz allegedly rode his skateboard across the campus at 4:30 p.m. He spent less than 10 minutes there after entering the north gate on Holmberg Road, the same gate his brother entered on the day of the shooting, and exiting at a gate near the front entrance on Pine Island Road.
John Mansfield, 17, a junior, said perhaps Zachary Cruz was trying to make sense of the tragedy.
“I think he’s trying to understand like everyone else,” he said.
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(Staff writers Tonya Alanez and Scott Travis contributed to this report.)
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©2018 Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
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