<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n
Snead thought he had the only key to the cabinet but has figured out Cruz must have kept a key for himself. The family kept their own rifles, bought after a burglary a couple of years ago, in a separate locked cabinet.<\/p>\n
They told Cruz he needed to ask permission to take out the guns. He had asked only twice since November. They said \u201cyes\u201d once and \u201cno\u201d once.<\/p>\n
Cruz\u2019s mom seemed to have cosseted him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was very na\u00efve. He wasn\u2019t dumb, just na\u00efve,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t know how to cook. They had to show him how to use a microwave. He didn\u2019t know how to do his laundry and also had to learn to pick up after himself.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t drive but bought a bicycle and rode it to work at a nearby Dollar Tree.<\/p>\n
The Sneads had raised their own three boys and jokingly called the process of teaching Cruz \u201cAdulting 101.\u201d<\/p>\n
They insisted he enlist in adult education classes run by the school district and drove him to school each day. He didn\u2019t have much time to himself.<\/p>\n
He seemed to be doing well and wanted to be an army infantryman. He was excited when an army recruiter visited school recently.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else could this family have possibly done to put this young man on the right track?\u201d said their attorney, Jim Lewis. \u201cThey tried to do a good deed and it went horribly wrong for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n
So far as they know, Cruz wasn\u2019t particularly close to any of the victims and they don\u2019t know of any resentment he might have had against any of the people who were murdered. They have no clue why he did it.<\/p>\n
The night before the massacre seemed just like any other, they said.<\/p>\n
Cruz had some odd eating habits. He quietly put a chocolate chip cookie in his steak and cheese sandwich. He went to bed around 8 p.m., which wasn\u2019t unusual.<\/p>\n
They said they were sure he was bullied; he was the kind of kid that would attract the attention of a bully.<\/p>\n
He badly wanted to have a girlfriend and seemed lonely, they said. They don\u2019t know anything about rumors they\u2019ve since heard about a breakup with a girl, stalking or fighting.<\/p>\n
They also saw no signs of animal cruelty. They are animal lovers, with two dogs and six cats. He\u2019d have been kicked out if he was mean to their animals. Cruz seemed to love their pets.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday morning, Cruz told them he didn\u2019t need a ride to school: \u201cIt\u2019s Valentine\u2019s Day and I don\u2019t go to school on Valentine\u2019s Day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cruz had a \u201cboxer\u2019s fracture\u201d in his right hand after falling on a step in their house about three weeks ago. They now think he removed the cast on his hand, the second he\u2019d had, the day of the shooting. He\u2019d also removed the first cast.<\/p>\n
Kimberly last saw him around 10 that morning before she left to run errands. He said he was going fishing and was gone when she returned. She went to sleep because she was supposed to work a night shift that night.<\/p>\n
Cruz sent their son a few texts that day. In one, he asked what classroom the boy was in. He said he was going to see a movie.<\/p>\n
Later he texted he had \u201csomething important\u201d he wanted to tell the teen. Then he wrote: \u201cNothing man.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n
They have since figured out those texts were sent during the Uber ride Cruz took to the murder scene. His last text to their son, as Cruz pulled up at the school, said \u201cYo.\u201d<\/p>\n
They think Cruz moved out of the home of his late mom\u2019s friend in Lantana because of tension about his guns and a possible misunderstanding about money.<\/p>\n
Cruz told them he stood to inherit at least $800,000 from his deceased parents. Most of the money would come when he turned 22, he said. The Sneads have since seen paperwork they think supports the claim he was going to be very financially comfortable.<\/p>\n
Cruz thought the family friend in Lantana was stealing money from him but the Sneads suspect she was innocent and he was just a victim of common identity theft. They reported about $2,900 in fraudulent charges on his debit or credit card.<\/p>\n
Around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, their son called sounding panic-stricken. He was safe but had heard shots fired on campus. He helped classmates flee by climbing a fence to neighboring Westglades middle school.<\/p>\n
Snead told his son to walk to Walmart and he\u2019d come get him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
As Snead drove there, a SWAT commander called his cellphone and asked where his son Nik was. Told him it wasn\u2019t his son and he didn\u2019t know where he was.<\/p>\n
As he kept driving and put two and two together, he became terrified and called the commander back. Snead told the cop the last he knew Nik was home alone with Kimberly: \u201cI need a police presence at my house. Go make sure my wife is OK.\u201d<\/p>\n
Snead called his son to say he needed to check on mom first and drove home: \u201cI was fearing for her life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kimberly was sleeping because she was supposed to work the night shift that night. Law enforcement banged on her door with guns drawn, yelling: \u201cPut your hands up.\u201d<\/p>\n
When they asked where her son was, she assumed something terrible had happened to her son but soon realized they meant Cruz. They searched the house but already had Cruz in custody elsewhere.<\/p>\n
After an emotional reunion of husband and wife, they were brought to Broward Sheriff\u2019s headquarters to be reunited with their son. They later realized he was being questioned by detectives in case he was involved. Investigators quickly figured out he was innocent.<\/p>\n
As they waited, Cruz was led in to the building, handcuffed and wearing a hospital gown, surrounded by deputies.<\/p>\n
Kimberly tried to run at him, James held her back.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally, Nik? Really?\u201d she yelled at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said he was sorry. He apologized. He looked lost, absolutely lost,\u201d said James. \u201cAnd that was the last time we saw him.\u201d<\/p>\n
___http:\/\/www.sun-sentinel.com\/local\/broward\/parkland\/florida-school-shooting\/fl-school-shooting-family-helped-nikolas-cruz-20180217-story.html<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nikolas Cruz: ‘We had this monster living under our roof and we didn\u2019t know.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94706\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}