Accused Parkland Shooter Said He Wanted To Buy Gun In '16: Report

PARKLAND, FL - Nikolas Cruz cut his arms on Snapchat and said he wanted to buy a gun in September 2016, records obtained by the Sun Sentinel show. The incident prompted an investigation by Broward County sheriff’s deputies and investigators from the Department of Children & Family Services, which came four days after Cruz’s 18th birthday.

“Mr. Cruz has fresh cuts on both his arms. Mr. Cruz stated he plans to go out and buy a gun. It is unknown what he is buying the gun for,” the DCF report reads. Investigators concluded there were “some implications” for Cruz’s safety but determined he was receiving adequate support from his school and outpatient care from Henderson Mental Health in Broward County. He bought the AR-15 about five months later.

Seventeen people were shot to death and numerous others injured Wednesday after Cruz, a former student who was expelled last year, opened fire marking a horrific and sadly familiar episode of school violence, authorities say.

Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein said Friday that defense attorneys for Cruz plan to offer a guilty plea in exchange for life in prison. He said in this case guilt is not an issue.

“There is only one question: Should this young man live or should he die by execution?” he said. “We believe it’s in nobody’s best interest to go through a circus of a trial.”

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Photo: An early morning fog rises where 17 memorial crosses were placed, for the 17 deceased students and faculty from the Wednesday shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla., Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018. As families began burying their dead, authorities questioned whether they could have prevented the attack at the high school where a gunman, Nikolas Cruz, took several lives. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)