Crime & Safety

Florida School Shooting: Accused Killer Said He Was Sorry

The family that took in accused Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz after the death of his adopted mother in November said he apologized.

NEW YORK, NY — The family that took in accused Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz after the death of his adopted mother in November said they briefly crossed paths with him following his alleged Valentine’s Day rampage that claimed the lives of 17 people and wounded numerous others.

“It was at the police station when they were going past us,” recalled Kimberly Snead, speaking on “Good Morning America” with her husband James on Monday. “I went after him. I really wanted just to strangle him more than anything. Everything I wanted to say. I tried to reserve myself. I says: ‘Really nick? Really?’ I yelled at him. He mumbled something back I didn’t hear. He said he was sorry.”

The Sneads told host Michael Strahan they knew Cruz owned guns when they invited him to live at their home, but they insisted that the weapons be kept under lock and key.

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“I thought I had the only key to the gun safe,” said James Snead.

The Sneads said they helped Cruz get a job and get into another school after being expelled last year from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which was the scene of Wednesday's mass shooting.

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They described Cruz as well behaved in their home.

“Everything everybody seems to know we didn’t know,” James Snead explained. “We had rules and he followed every rule to the “T.” I had met him a couple of times before. He had spent the night at the house. He was very polite. He seemed normal.”

Cruz typically rode into school with James Snead but he chose to stay home on the day of the attack.

“He said ‘he didn’t go to school on Valentine’s Day,’” James Snead said of the excuse Cruz gave him.

James Snead said he learned of the shooting “after the SWAT team called me and asked if I knew where my son Nikolas was,” he explained. “I said ‘he’s not my son, but I don’t know where he’s at.’ At that point, I got in touch with my son who was fleeing the scene."

Snead said that he and his son "put two and two together" once they heard the description of the shooter. Kimberly Snead was home sleeping at the time.

“I was panic stricken for her safety, so I called the SWAT officer back to get the police back to my home to check on her,” James Snead said.

Cruz, who was a friend of their son, had texted the boy earlier that afternoon.

“He told my son he was going to the movies. He said he had something to tell him and my son pressed him: ‘What is it? What is it?’ He goes ‘nothing bad bro.’ And that was it,” according to James Snead. “The last text my son got was: “Yo.“ And that was it. And that was about 2:18, I believe.”

Cruz allegedly arrived at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School by Uber at 2:19 p.m. A witness reported the first gunshots one minute later and called a "Code Red," which meant that the campus was experiencing an emergency.

The Sneads said they had no plans to visit Cruz.

AP Photo/Gerald Herbert


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