In granting the temporary order, Tuter noted that the sheriff’s office did not allege Cruz owns guns. The new law, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, lets law enforcement officers temporarily seize firearms from someone they’re taking into custody for an involuntary mental health assessment. New Florida gun law used on brother of Parkland school shooter (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool) Amy Beth Bennett/AP A judge set an unusually high $500,000 bond on Tuesday and imposed a host of other restrictions. Zachary Cruz, right, the brother of the Florida school shooting suspect, is displayed in a monitor via closed circuit television from the main jail, as he waits to make his first appearance on charges of trespassing on the grounds of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Tuesday, March 20, 2018, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Violating the order is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Judge Jack Tuter, who signed Thursday’s order, had issued a temporary risk protection order against Cruz on March 21. The Broward County Sheriff’s Office had sought the order using a new Florida law passed in the aftermath of last month’s school massacre. The risk protection order, which is separate from the plea deal in the trespassing case, bans Cruz from possessing and purchasing firearms and ammunition for one year. Shooter’s brother banned from buying gunsĪlso Thursday, another judge granted an order prohibiting Zachary Cruz from having access to guns. He is named or referenced in at least 36 incidents, investigation and call reports between 20. Prosecutors mentioned three earlier crimes to which Cruz pleaded guilty, but records from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and Coral Springs police show his encounters with law enforcement were much more extensive. His attorney described him as a victim of “hysteria” due to the massacre. (Photo by Mike Stocker-Pool/Getty Images) Pool/Getty Images North America/Getty Images Cruz is facing 17 charges of premeditated murder in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. LAUDERDALE - FEBRUARY 19: Nikolas Cruz appears in court for a status hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer on Februin Ft. In his first court appearance through closed-circuit TV on March 20, Cruz was shackled and surrounded by three armed deputies, uncommon for someone appearing on a trespassing charge.įT. Instead, the judge in Cruz’s case set bail last week at $500,000, ordered a psychological evaluation, electronic monitoring and no communication with his older brother. Zachary Cruz faced a second-degree misdemeanor with a bond that is typically $25. Was he being punished for his brother’s crime? “Zachary Cruz is not someone any of us needs to fear he’s someone who needs our compassion.” “Zachary is a normal 18-year-old kid who has experienced something more profound than any of us could imagine,” the statement said in closing. He simply wanted to “try to make sense of this.” Sorrow for the victims and their families, sorrow for his brother, who he loves.”Ĭruz didn’t expect to see anyone when he went to the Parkland school, the lawyer said. “Then in February, the only family member that he had left, his brother, murdered 17 people in cold blood. Marjory Stoneman Douglas will require students to carry only clear backpacksįollowing his mother’s death, Cruz was forced to move and leave behind his school and his friends. The transparent backpacks are part of the program "Escuela Segura" (Safe School ) to avoid violence in schools. After his arrest, the younger Cruz told police he wanted to “reflect on the school shooting and soak it in,” according to an arrest report.Ī secondary school student walks carrying a new transparent backpack in Guadalajara, Mexico on October 25, 2012. He is also forbidden from having any contact with victims or family members of the February 14 mass shooting.Ĭruz, 18, was arrested March 19 on a misdemeanor trespassing charge at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. Under the terms of his probation, Zachary Cruz will wear a GPS monitor and must remain one mile away from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas campus. He was initially jailed on a $500,000 bond, leading his attorney to argue he was being punished because of his older brother, who killed 17 people last month at the school in one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern US history. The younger Cruz was released Thursday afternoon from the Broward County Jail. Zachary Cruz, the younger brother of Parkland, Florida, school shooter Nikolas Cruz, was sentenced Thursday to six months of probation for trespassing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School earlier this month.
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