EP. 74 FLORIDA - The Parkland Shooting At Stoneman Douglas High School (PT. 2)
02:03:17 Share

He's the most terrifying serial killer you've never heard of. Haddon Clark has confessed to several murders, but investigators say he could have over 100 victims. At the center of the mayhem, a cellmate of Haddon's that was able to get key evidence into Haddon's murder spree across America,

because Haddon thought he was Jesus Christ. Born Evil, the Serial Killer and the Savior, an ID true crime event. Premieres Monday, September 2nd at 9. Watch on ID or stream on Max. Set your DVR. What kind of fun is waiting for you at California's Great America? The holy cow, we're way too high and here comes the drop kind of fun.

The make a splash all summer kind of fun. The I can't believe I ate that whole funnel cake. Let's get another kind of fun. But most importantly, at California's Great America, you'll find for the fun of it kind of fun. Get the best deal on tickets at CAGreatAmerica.com.

Warning. The following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects. Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned.

In last week's episode, we walked through the Parkland School shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, a shooting that took the lives of 17 people, making it the deadliest high school shooting in American history. So if you haven't listened to that, go back now and give it a listen. But in this week's episode, we are going to discuss everything else there is to know about this horrific massacre, including the gunman, his arrest, interrogation, and upbringing.

We're also going to talk about the mistakes made by not only the school and local law enforcement, but also the FBI. You see, in this era of mass shootings, instead of taking direct action, they tell us to know the warning signs of a mass shooter. They tell us to report it if we see these warning signs. But what if we do all of that? We follow all of the rules and it still happens.

Well, as you'll see, that's exactly what happened in this school shooting. The gunman posted all over social media that he was going to be the next mass shooter. He constantly talked about killing people and bringing guns to school and ending everyone's lives. And in the wake of this horrific tragedy, it became clear that the FBI was well aware of this potential school shooter.

and nothing was done to stop him. But the response to this mass shooting was unlike anything our country has ever seen. The survivors of Stoneman Douglas decided that they weren't going to sit back and become another statistic of gun violence. They were going to make their voices heard across the nation with a movement called March for Our Lives, a movement that demanded safety within our schools.

And through that, they showed America how powerful it is when young people stand up and demand change. This is the story of the Parkland School shooting. I'm Courtney Browen. And I'm Colin Browen. And you're listening to Murder in America. Murder in America

Moments after murdering 17 people inside building 12 of Stoneman Douglas, the gunman, whose name is Nicholas Cruz, took off his vest and threw down his AR-15 on the third floor stairwell before running out of the building. Like we mentioned in last week's episode, Nicholas was wearing a JROTC uniform. So once his vest was off, he looked like your average student running away from the building.

Outside, there were hundreds of students evacuating from the other buildings on campus. Now, they weren't evacuating because of the shooting. Most people weren't even aware that there was a shooting at this point. They just heard the fire alarm and started to evacuate. One of these students was a girl named Nicolette Machoda, who was walking out of Building 9 with the rest of her classmates. You know, I'm going to stay. It's too short. We heard the fire alarm go off. Okay. When we heard the fire alarm go off, we exited the room. I grabbed my bag. I grabbed everything and...

We made our way outside. We came along the side. When we came out, there were so many students standing there, you could barely tell, you know, who was who. We just started walking. Okay. When we started walking, we walked along here. As we got to the... We kept walking over here. As we got around over here, we started seeing police. When we...

saw the police, we started realizing a little bit what was going on because normal fire drill would have never happened. You never saw police around you as much as we started seeing them.

As the hundreds of students evacuated out of Stoneman Douglas, it became clear that this wasn't a fire drill. It was something far more serious. And it was at around this time when everyone started to learn about the shooter in Building 12. And before long, everyone was trying to get as far away from the school as possible. But as they were evacuating, Nicolette saw a familiar face standing right behind her. We went along all the way here, just about here.

is when I had turned around and I saw the shooter was standing behind me. Now, like we mentioned, Nicholas Cruz had already ditched his gun and vest, so at the time, Nicolette didn't know that he was the shooter. But she did recognize him because they went to middle school together. I see him and I turned around and, you know, I hadn't seen him in years. I spent the first two years at another school, so my last two years were at Stoneman Douglas. I...

looking back, I obviously had no idea. I turned around and I realized he was standing with another friend of mine. When I realized that we kind of collided in the line. So we became one line. When we became one line,

I said, hi. He said, hi back. And I said, you know, you have any college plans? And he said, somewhere in Florida. Nicolette didn't know it at the time, but she had just struck up a conversation with the person who had just shot up her school. With the chaos going on outside of the buildings, Nicholas Cruz was able to blend in with the crowd of students. And just as easily as he blended in, he was able to sneak out of the line and run away from campus. At that point, we got...

We were scaling the fence between right, the west glades basically. When we came out on this end, I turned around and he wasn't there anymore. In the meantime, while Nicholas Cruz was running away from the school, law enforcement was just now entering building 12, four whole minutes after he left the building.

The officers went floor by floor looking for the shooter, but he was gone. Little did they know, he was about three quarters of a mile away, heading in the direction of the Walmart in Coral Springs. You see, Nicholas Cruz was thirsty after the mass murder.

and he decided to walk into the Walmart and order an Icy from Subway that was located inside of the store. In this security footage, you can see him enter the Walmart at 2:51 p.m. and he takes a left towards the Subway and walks up to the counter. An employee named Carlos Rugelles takes his order. Do you remember what you were serving him? He wanted an Icy mixed with a cherry and a blue raspberry.

While Carlos is making Nicholas's icy, you can see students walk into the Walmart clearly distressed over the shooting that just occurred at Stoneman Douglas. They had no idea that they were literally walking within feet of the shooter. Once Nicholas gets his icy, he casually walks out of the Walmart while sipping on his drink. Next, he makes his way towards the McDonald's next door. - Now another student from Stoneman Douglas named John Wilford was also walking in this direction.

After the shooting, he and his classmates were trying to get as far away from the school as possible. John used this time to call his mom, and she told him that she would pick him up at the McDonald's in Coral Springs. So, he makes his way over there and sits down at a table. Okay, what happens when you get at a McDonald's? I sat down in a booth. I...

John was also trying to get in touch with his sister Maddie.

who was also a student at Stoneman Douglas. He didn't know it at the time, but Maddie was actually a victim in the shooting. She was on the first floor of building 12 in room 1213 when bullets came flying through her classroom window. We briefly discussed Maddie in the last episode and she would go on to survive her injuries, but she was the most critically injured of all of the survivors.

After the shooting, her brother John sat down at the McDonald's, calling her over and over again, but his phone calls went unanswered. Little did he know, Maddie was unconscious on her classroom floor, bleeding from four gunshot wounds. And as he tried to get into contact with her, her attacker would walk into the McDonald's and sit down at the table across from him. Then what happened? Then, uh...

John had never seen Nicholas Cruz before. He had never even heard of him, so it was strange that he came up and sat with him in the booth. So I was just trying to get back home, so...

I figured he was from school because of what he was wearing. Distraught over what was happening, John decided to strike up a conversation with a stranger sitting at his booth. I mean, I saw him sit down, so I just was telling him, you know, like, this is so chaotic. You know, this is crazy. All these helicopters and SWAT cars coming. Like, what do you think this could be? And I don't remember him saying much, but he was just head down, wasn't really talking to me. I don't remember much of the conversation, but...

In the McDonald's security footage, you can see John talking to him, but Nicholas just kind of sits there, silently sipping on his drink. It was around this time when John's mother called him to let him know she was in the parking lot. So John stands up to walk outside, and Nicholas Cruz follows him out.

But before he gets to the car with his mom, the strange guy in the JROTC uniform asks him a question. He asked me for a ride. He was pretty insistent on it, and I said no. I just, I wasn't really thinking much of it. I mean, I was just trying to get home. My sister wasn't answering her phone. I was nervous. I was panicked. I also had a bad gut feeling about it, you know, because I'm a nice person. I would...

John declined to give Nicholas Cruz a ride home that day, and as he got in the car with his mom and started to drive down the road, he saw Nicholas walking away from the McDonald's. Back at Stoneman Douglas, law enforcement were trying to tend to the injured while also trying to locate the shooter.

The fact that the gunman was even able to leave the school was not a good look. And to make matters worse, it was nearly a half hour after the shooting, and they still hadn't been able to find him. The Parkland Police Department reached out to all other departments in the area with a description of the shooter. White male, burgundy shirt, wearing a black hat.

In the town over in Coconut Creek, Officer Michael Leonard heard this and decided to scope out the area for anyone suspicious that matched the description. Around that same time, reports started coming in that the gunman was possibly near the McDonald's in Coral Springs. Officer Leonard was in the area, so he started driving in that direction.

And what do you know, when he drove through the quiet residential area, he saw a young man who matched the description, walking eastbound on the sidewalk. And as soon as he saw him, Officer Leonard knew deep down that he was the shooter. So he pulled up behind him and parked his patrol car. Nicholas Cruz continued to walk down the sidewalk, eyes focused on the ground in front of him.

The officer then drew his weapon, got out of his car, and shut the door behind him. As soon as Nicholas heard the car door shut, he looked back over his shoulder and saw the officer with his gun drawn. He then ordered him to get down on the ground, and Nicholas complies.

And it was here, 82 minutes after the massacre, when Nicholas Cruz was arrested for the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. While officers have him on the ground in handcuffs, one of them asks him a question. What's going on? What's going on today, bro? Demons, man. Demons? Voices. Voices and demons? Voices.

Voices and demons. That's the answer Nicholas gives as to why he shot and killed 17 people. He then tries to act crazed like he doesn't know where he is or what's going on. After a few moments, Nicholas starts to sob uncontrollably.

Here is the audio from that, but it is kind of hard to hear because of the helicopters. What the fuck? What the fuck?

And now that the manhunt is over, the officers take him into custody. We have a shooter in custody after he committed this horrific, homicidal, detestable act. It wouldn't be long until the entire nation knew the name of the monster who took the lives of 17 people that Valentine's Day of 2018. And before we move on, we're going to have an ad break.

So I try to work out every day and something that I always take after my workouts is a protein shake and I have to have protein powder. And I've found the protein powder that works for me. So Lean and So Clean by Aura Organics. This is an amazing product that has so many great things about it. It has an amazing taste and texture and the product uses the cleanest ingredients. It's vegan. There's nothing artificial. It features whole food ingredients sourced from USDA organic certified farms and it's high protein. So I try to work out every day and something that I always take after my workouts is a protein shake

You can get 21 grams of protein per serving. I know I've tried a lot of different protein powders in my workout and health and fitness journey, and a lot of them haven't worked for me. And I've been using so lean and so clean for over a month now. And let me tell you, the results are visible. I absolutely love it.

Aura is your one-stop shop for clean plant-based nutrition that works. And how do we know that it works? Well, Aura has over 10,000 five-star reviews from happy online customers. So if that doesn't tell you how good this protein powder is, I don't know what will. But how do you know that the product is actually clean? Well, Aura is radically transparent. With an obsessive focus on quality control, Aura tests every batch of its products at third-party accredited laboratories and publishes the test results for you to view on their website.

So if you want to try this out, get 30% off your first subscription when you text MURDER to 64000. Text MURDER to 64000 and get 30% off your first subscription. That's MURDER to 64000. Message and data rates may apply. Terms apply. Available at Aura Organic slash terms. Now let's get back to today's story.

And now that authorities knew his name, it was time to take a look into his past. Nicholas Jacob Cruz was born in South Florida on September 24th, 1998. His biological mother's name was Brenda Woodard, and she had Nicholas when she was 43 years old. However, she never intended on keeping her baby.

In the delivery room on the day Nicholas was born was another woman named Linda Cruz who was more than excited to adopt him. You see, his biological mother Brenda wasn't really fit to be a parent. From the 1980s into the 2000s, she'd been arrested more than two dozen times for crimes like car theft, burglary, battery, drug offenses, weapon possessions, and domestic violence. In fact, she had even been arrested for purchasing crack cocaine while she was pregnant. So it was clear that she was not fit to be a mother.

Linda Cruz, on the other hand, was. According to a family friend and neighbor, Trish Devaney, Brenda and Linda had a private adoption arrangement through an attorney prior to Nicholas' birth. And at only three days old, Linda Cruz adopted Nicholas, allegedly, for the

for the price of $50,000. Linda and her husband, Roger Cruz, didn't plan on adopting any other children, but 17 months later, they learned that Brenda was pregnant again, and they decided to adopt her other child so Nicholas could have a biological sibling. And days after he was born, the Cruzes brought home Nicholas's half-brother, Zachary, after paying Brenda an additional $15,000.

Now, Linda and Roger Cruz got married later in life, and Linda didn't have any children of her own at that point. She was 49 years old when she started looking into adoption, and her husband was 61. And due to their age, they were finding it difficult to adopt because adoption agencies usually want their parents to be younger. But eventually, Linda would come into contact with Brenda, and all of her dreams would come true.

She would finally be a mother. Now, no one knows how Linda linked up with Brenda Woodard, but Trish Devaney, Linda's friend, said that she didn't think it was a very good idea. She even tried to warn Linda about adopting from a drug-addicted mother. Trish would later tell reporters at the New York Post, "'Nick's biological mother was just a complete screw-up drug addict and thief. I even said to Linda, you don't know the mother's background.'"

Now, Linda and Roger did their best to give their sons a great life.

When the boys were young, they built a beautiful five-bedroom, three-bathroom home in a really nice neighborhood in Parkland, Florida. But by the time Nicholas Cruz was three years old, it was clear that he had some developmental delays, most likely due to his mother's drug use and utero. But despite that, the boys had a really good life.

and they were especially close to their father. Now, Roger had a marketing job that required him to travel a lot, but when he was home, his entire life was dedicated to Nicholas and Zachary.

A family friend named Ben Aronson would later tell the Sun Sentinel: "He was all about the kids. I remember Roger having this entire, like, really extended type jungle gym out back in the backyard being built. They built another wing to the house and the kids just had plenty to do." Now, it's important to note that Roger never owned any guns and he was never into hunting or anything that would expose the boys to weapons.

Not that there's anything wrong with parents that do, but we often see stories of mass shooters who grew up in homes where guns were common. And that isn't the case here. As for Linda, their mother, she was a stay-at-home mom who gave the boys all of her love and attention. She never did anything. She never went anywhere. She was always with her children. Every single day. Every minute.

So I don't understand how this tragedy happened. Now we found a picture of Nicholas and Zachary hugging each other, playing around in the bathtub and at first glance it looks like they're a really happy family. But it wasn't all smiles for the Cruz family. One day in 2004, they were all hanging out at their house when Linda said Nicholas came running out of his father's den crying.

When she asked him what was wrong, he responded, "Daddy's dead." Roger Cruz had a heart condition and he passed away from a heart attack right in front of Nicholas when he was just five years old. And his death was really hard on their family.

Not only were the boys extremely close to their dad, but Roger was also the one who brought home the money. Now, Linda ended up getting a small settlement after suing Roger's heart doctors, but it was still difficult navigating their life without him.

And to make matters worse, Nicholas and Zachary found out sometime after their dad died that he wasn't even their real dad. You see, for whatever reason, Roger and Linda had never told the boys that they were adopted. And not only did they have to grieve the loss of their father, but they had to come to terms with the fact that a big part of their life was a lie.

And throughout Nicholas' childhood, he continued to struggle with a number of different things. He would later be diagnosed with autism, ADHD, depression, emotional behavioral disability, and OCD. Linda also told law enforcement at some point that Nicholas had really bad anger issues, something that will come up a little later. But because of all his conditions, Linda really catered to her son. She got him counselors both in school and at home, and she got him on various medications. But

But despite all of that, Nicholas still struggled. His younger brother Zachary had no problems making friends, but Nicholas was a different story. Kids didn't want to hang out with him. His own brother didn't even like him. Anytime Zachary would get invited to hang out with friends, Linda would make Nicholas tag along. But the entire time, they would just bully him for being awkward and different. After the shooting, Zach would express his regret for being mean to Nicholas throughout their childhood.

but who's to know if it would have made a difference? Now, at one point, Nicholas attended West Glade Middle School in Coral Springs, and it wasn't easy for him. Not only was he socially awkward and a slow learner, but he had a ton of disciplinary issues.

Teachers said he was known to act out, cuss, disrupt the class, insult people, and he was just an overall problem child. So during his eighth grade year, he was moved to a school called Cross Creek School in Pompano Beach, which was a school that specializes in children with emotional and behavioral disabilities. But it's unclear if this school really helped. You see, Nicholas had a very violent side.

According to the Broward Sheriff's Office, the police had been called at least 23 times in the 10 years before the shooting. And most of those calls were because Nicholas was getting physical. According to Linda, when Nicholas was 14 years old, he got mad at her and hit her with a plastic hose of a vacuum cleaner. Just a few months later, she took away his Xbox and he threw her into the wall.

And these weren't the only times Nicholas got violent. Neighbors said that the police were constantly showing up to the crew's home. And family members even said that Nicholas had pointed a rifle at his mom on one occasion. In addition, Nicholas was really upset that he had to attend this specialized school. In his mind, that school was for people who, quote, weren't smart. And according to the Broward School System report,

Nicholas really wanted to be back at a regular high school, his hometown high school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas.

But it should have been clear that Nicholas was not ready to be back in a regular high school. Although he tried really hard to get good grades, he was still having a lot of behavioral problems. In one instance at Cross Creek, Nicholas jumped out of the back of a school bus because someone dared him to. In another instance, he got into a really big fight because he called a student a racial slur. And according to the school, he was constantly talking about guns and violence. One report read...

Nicholas at times will be distracted by inappropriate conversations of his peers if the topic is about guns, people being killed, or the armed forces. He will also engage in the conversation. Nicholas benefits from verbal praise and positive reinforcements. But despite these warning signs, on January 13th, 2016, halfway through his sophomore year, they let Nicholas enroll at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the high school where he would later shoot and kill 17 people.

Stoneman Douglas was one of the best high schools in all of Florida. And people from all over specifically moved to Parkland so that their children could go there and get a good education. The school's motto is, be positive, be passionate, be proud to be an Eagle. Needless to say, Nicholas Cruz did not embody that motto. And he started showing warning signs almost immediately.

Just one month after he enrolled, Nicholas posted on his Instagram that he planned on shooting up the school. A tip was sent to the school's deputy, Scott Peterson, who we will discuss more later, but nothing ever came about it. A few months later, Nicholas would pass the 10th grade and he started talking more about his future. He had big dreams of joining the military, and to prepare for that,

He even signed up for the JROTC program at his school. - And for those of you who don't know, JROTC stands for Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps. According to the National Defense, it should, quote, "Provide meaningful leadership instruction of benefit to the student and of value to the armed forces."

Students will acquire, one, an understanding of the fundamental concept of leadership, military art, and science. Two, an introduction to related professional knowledge. And three, an appreciation of requirements for national security. The dual roles of citizen-slash-soldier and soldier-slash-citizen are studied.

These programs will enable cadets to better serve their country as leaders, as citizens, and in military service." Now, we aren't really sure how Nicholas was able to be in JROTC due to his tumultuous record, but I can only assume that they let him in because they figured it would help straighten him out. As we know though, that didn't happen. But as soon as Nicholas's 11th grade year started, his life seemed to go downhill.

You see, Nicholas had been dating this girl, but shortly before his junior year, the two broke up. According to her, Nicholas was physically and mentally abusive. He was known to throw things at her and blow up in a fit of rage. After they broke up, Nicholas even sent her messages threatening to rape and kill her, along with kill her family and all of the people she loved.

Shortly after this, she started dating another guy named Ania Sabadini. When Nicholas found out about this new guy, he started threatening him as well. On Instagram, he sent him a number of messages calling him racial slurs, telling him to stay away from his ex. He even wrote, quote, "'You know how fucking mad I am at you? You took my ex. I've been depressed.'"

but Ania just ignored those messages not wanting to deal with him. Then the school year started and one day Nicholas saw Ania on campus and started yelling at him to stay away from his girl. Then all of a sudden, Ania saw Nicholas Cruz running up behind him with a handful of colored pencils, motioning like he was going to stab him. Nicholas seemed to be out of his mind so Ania just took off running.

But that wouldn't be the last time they would have an encounter. Nicholas seemed to be going through a deep depression because of the breakup.

According to the school's counselor, he'd been telling people that he tried to kill himself by drinking gasoline. He also started talking about wanting to buy a gun. A few days later, he posted a video on Snapchat of him cutting his wrists. Now, this incident was actually reported to the state and a DCF report was made that stated, quote, Mr. Cruz has fresh cuts on both of his arms.

Mr. Cruz stated that he plans on going out and buying a gun. It's unknown what he's buying the gun for. End quote. But after an investigation, the DCF concluded that he was, quote, stable enough to not be hospitalized. End quote. In addition to his alarming social media posts...

Nicholas wrote the phrase, I hate n-words on his book bag, along with multiple swastikas. Other students started noticing Nicholas's concerning behavior as well. One of his classmates, a girl named Tyra Hammonds, said that Nicholas was an outcast. She shared first period with him their junior year, and she said he was a loner who was often by himself. During class, she said Nicholas would just stare at her like he was looking into her soul.

Tyra's best friend was also in this class Her name was Meadow Pollack And she would go on to be one of the murder victims in the shooting According to Tyra, she and Meadow always treated Nicholas with kindness They even let him use their phones on a few occasions But one day, Nicholas would do something in class that would really disturb them

Tyrus said that she saw him holding something near his crotch. I looked close and I saw he was holding a dead bird near his genitalia. I saw some feathers and I knew it was a bird.

That was disturbing, but I just looked away because it wasn't my business. - Tyra and Meadow were disgusted by the fact that Nicholas would bring a dead bird to school and put it near his genitals, but they didn't want to get involved. And they could have never known what their classmate was actually capable of. But it turns out this wasn't the only instance of Nicholas playing with dead animals.

Another student at Stoneman Douglas, whose identity is unknown, said that Nicholas always brought dead animals to school, and sometimes their heads would be cut off, and he would show it to people like it was some sort of show-and-tell. This same student said that Nicholas would always draw swastikas, and he constantly made comments like...

I wish all the Jews were dead." He said that Nicholas was also very racist towards black people, which is weird because his own half-brother is black. And we will go into this a little more later, but this student, along with many others, would later claim that Nicholas brought knives and bullets to school on multiple occasions. Most of these students never told anyone about it because they didn't want to get involved.

But back to the animal cruelty, it's important to note that after the shooting, there were about seven different people who came forward having witnessed Nicholas abusing or killing animals.

One being a boy who claimed that Nicholas showed him a picture of a decapitated cat. Another was Nicholas's own elderly neighbor. Yeah, he shot at chickens across. He used to have a little pellet gun, and he shot at chickens across in the back there. He, like, cornered a squirrel and was, like, pecking, like, rocks at it, like, trying to kill it. On his Instagram, Nicholas had even posted pictures of dead frogs with

With the caption, these things killed my dog, so I killed them pretty much. Hashtag killing toads. And as we all know, animal cruelty is very common in budding killers. So this explains a lot. Around this time, Nicholas walked into a local gun store with his mother, wanting to purchase a firearm.

One of the employees had recognized that he had been in the store before, but he wasn't old enough to purchase a gun. And now that he was 18, he was excited to buy one. The employee then started the process of running his background check, which he passed despite his troubled background. But the following day, the employee received an interesting call at the store. The call was from the woman that came into the store with him that day.

who they assumed was Linda Cruz. On the phone, she told the employee, "Do not release the gun to him if I'm not present." Concerned, the employee asked, "Why? Should we not sell him the gun?" But Linda didn't want to alarm anyone, so she assured him, "No, he's just young and I want to make sure he's safe and everything." But the employee couldn't follow through with this request.

You see, since Nicholas was 18, he couldn't stop him from picking it up unless she gave him a reason. And with that, Linda gave up. The next day, Nicholas came by to pick up the gun. And when the employee gave it to him, he noticed that Nicholas had a swastika drawn on his left wrist. This incident wasn't reported until after the shooting. And now we're going to have one more ad break.

So Courtney and I have talked about this on the show before, but we love microdosing. Microdosing, the concept, is commonly associated with psychedelics, wellness, performance enhancement, and creativity.

So if you don't know what microdosing is, basically you take an entry-level dose of THC that helps you just feel the right amount of good. And if you want to try out microdosing, we have a product that is absolutely amazing. It's called microdose gummies. My mom, my sister, my dad, they've all ordered these gummies now and they love them. They really do taste and feel amazing. So Courtney and I have both used the microdose gummies to help us kind of get into the zone when we're

Thank you.

They're honestly, they're so delicious and they work like a charm. I like to take these microdose gummies when I'm about to start writing one of these episodes because it gets me right there in the zone and it makes me feel great. I've talked about my struggles with anxiety on the show in the past, but microdose gummies, I love microdosing and these gummies are honestly the real deal and you can buy them nationwide. There's no restriction. That's what's awesome.

So to learn more about microdosing THC, go to microdose.com and use code MIA to get free shipping and 30% off your first order. The links can be found in our show description. But again, that's microdose.com and code MIA. Go try the gummies. Please. They're so good. You won't regret it. But let's get back to today's story.

Now we're going to take a look into Nicholas's social media because he was very active and very expressive. He had two Instagram accounts. One had the username Cruz underscore Nicholas. His bio had his name and the date, 1-18-16, with a bunch of smiling emojis.

and I'm assuming that was his anniversary date with his ex-girlfriend, but we aren't really sure. On that particular account, however, Nicholas posted photos of all of his guns and knives. He also posted pictures of himself holding these guns, pointing them at the camera, while wearing black face masks, army hats, camouflage, and bulletproof vests. In most of the pictures, his face is covered. On his second Instagram account, his username was Nicholas Cruz Makarov, with his bio reading "Annihilator."

Now, a Makarov is a Russian semi-automatic pistol. And I don't think Nicholas had one of these, but he did love to play video games like Call of Duty, where one of the main characters uses a Makarov gun. So it's possible he named it after that.

But on this account, Nicholas posted more photos of guns, selfies of him giving the middle finger, and a few photos of him outside in his boxers pointing a gun while wearing a Make America Great Again hat. Another photo shows at least seven large guns on his bed that he captioned, Arsenal. These social media posts are only the tip of the iceberg of the long list of concerning behaviors Nicholas displayed before the mass shooting. But unfortunately, none of these would be reported to the police until after the shooting had happened.

Another student at Stoneman Douglas would come forward after the shooting and say that around this time in 2016, Nicholas was on the school's computer when he looked up instructions on how to make a nail bomb. This same student also said that after the Pulse nightclub shooting that summer in Florida,

Nicholas made comments about how he was "glad they killed all of those gay people." So he's literally the worst person on the face of the planet. He's a racist, homophobic, abusive towards women, kills animals for fun, and a soon-to-be-murderer. And we haven't even gotten to all of it. Later, we will find out that he's also a pedophile.

But other witnesses even claimed that when no one was around, Nicholas would destroy students' class projects, just because. Now, it's clear that Nicholas' behavior is getting increasingly worse during his junior year. And by January of 2017, for whatever reason, he stopped going to his mental health treatments.

Around this same time, Linda Cruz sold their home and they moved to a smaller condo in Parkland. Now it wouldn't be long until Nicholas would get into a fight at school that would be the final straw for him at Stoneman Douglas. I couldn't find any details of exactly what happened during this fight or who was involved, but I do think it had to do with his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend.

We do know, however, that immediately after the fight, Nicholas was expelled from school. Shortly after that, on February 8th, 2017, he would be transferred to an alternative school in the area. Nicholas was angry with how his time at Stoneman Douglas ended. And just three days after his expulsion,

On February 11th, he purchased the AR-15 that he would later use in the shooting. - But it turns out there weren't just problems at school. Nicholas was having problems in his home life as well. According to a bank employee that had known Linda Cruz for years, Nicholas was very abusive towards his mother.

She and Linda would talk on the phone every week for at least a half hour, and during these calls she could hear Nicholas Cruz screaming at Linda, telling her, "Get off your fat ass or go kill yourself, that way we can all be happy." And this was a very common occurrence. In other phone calls, the bank employee could hear Nicholas telling Linda to kill herself, and if she didn't, then he was going to have to set their house on fire and watch her burn inside, and that no one would be able to stop him.

After he talked about burning the house down, he allegedly said, "They will really know me soon. Don't worry. They'll see."

On another occasion, Linda walked into the bank while on the phone with Nicholas and for whatever reason, she had the phone on speaker. And the bankers could hear him screaming at her because she wouldn't go to the grocery store. Now, this witness saw Nicholas in person on two separate occasions and both times he was physically and verbally abusive to Linda. According to her, Nicholas tried to get a hold of her purse and the two were physically fighting over it in the bank.

Linda also told her that she allegedly tried to change the Wi-Fi password because she was concerned with Nicholas's internet searches. But he just found out what it was and changed it back. The witness also said that Linda had expressed concern about what to do with Nicholas now that he was 18.

She didn't want him to live with her anymore but at the same time, Linda was afraid of what he would do if he wasn't supervised. So the banker asked her, "Why don't you get the police involved?" But she allegedly responded saying that Nicholas was really good at making people think that he didn't know what he was doing. He would make people think that he had this horrible life and that he was severely bullied but it was all a manipulation tactic.

In reality, she was the one that was constantly bullied by her adoptive son. He would constantly threaten her.

and make threats towards others. And at one point, Linda even described her own son as evil. Now, the most concerning thing of all was that Linda allegedly told this bank employee that if anything ever happened to her, she had to promise to go to the authorities and tell them that Nicholas was responsible. This employee did not report any of this until after the shooting. But it's sad that his own mother was afraid of him.

and she had every right to be. Around the time of his senior year at his new alternative school, his threats of violence got even worse. He even continued threatening Anaya, the guy who dated his ex-girlfriend. And by that point, Anaya and the girl had been broken up for months. But Nicholas didn't care. He sent a number of messages that read, quote,

"You have no idea what I'm capable of. I'm going to fucking kill you. I'm going to watch you bleed. I'm going to shoot you dead." And like every time before, none of it was reported. But Nicholas' threats of violence were being heard everywhere, not just to people he hated. For instance, he even commented on a Mississippi blogger's YouTube channel, quote,

I'm going to be a professional school shooter. Now, the blogger actually did report the comment to the FBI, but nothing ever came about it. Now, on November 1st of 2017, Linda Cruz would get the flu and it was pretty severe. So,

So much so that she had to be hospitalized because she developed pneumonia. And unfortunately, at the age of 68, she passed away in the hospital. And the death of Linda Cruz seemed to really affect Nicholas. She was the only person who would put up with him, the only one who really loved him. And now she was gone. And it should be noted that Linda's cousin, a woman named Catherine, actually called the Broward Sheriff's Office and requested that they take Nicholas's guns away now that his mother was dead.

but I couldn't find any follow-up with that request. After Linda's death, Nicholas and Zach were taken in by a family friend named Roxanne Deschamps, who lived 40 minutes away in Palm Beach, but she almost immediately regretted that decision. Within just a few weeks of living with them, on November 29th, 2017, Roxanne had to call 911 on Nick,

According to her, Nicholas asked to be dropped off at a friend's house in Parkland, nearly 40 minutes away, and when she told him no, he flew into a rage, throwing things and punching the walls of her home. Roxanne's son and Nicholas then got into a fight before he ran off to a nearby park.

Roxanne called the police because she was afraid for her life. She knew Nicholas had a lot of guns and she feared he planned on using them on her and her family. And apparently before he ran out of her house, he grabbed a bullet and went to go pick up his gun that he had recently bought.

Roxanne would later say, "He was just somebody I took in because his mother passed away. But that's all he wants is his gun and that's all he cares about is his gun." Roxanne also told the dispatcher that Nicholas put the gun on the head of his brother before, so not the first time. And he did that to his mom. It's not the first time he's put a gun on somebody's head. After running away from the home, Nicholas actually called the police as well to report that Roxanne's son assaulted and threatened him.

Here is the audio from that call. 911 emergency. Hi, I was just assaulted now. Someone tried to, someone attacked me and they said they were going to gut me. I came back. Yeah. And what happened there? Tell me like what happened? Well, I kind of got mad and I started punching walls and stuff. And then a kid came at me and threw me on the ground.

And he started attacking me and he kicked me out of the house. And he was gonna gut me just like that. You were just staying at this house and you got mad and you were punching things and then they came after you? Yeah. Alright.

When the deputy arrived, he told them that he got upset because he had misplaced a picture of his mother and they took down his information and that was that. But from there, Nicholas didn't have a place to go.

Now, the very next day, an anonymous caller from Massachusetts told the Broward Sheriff's Office that Nicholas had been collecting guns and was a, quote, school shooter in the making. But instead of taking that information seriously, the department told the caller to call the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, since that's where Nicholas was living at the time.

but little did they know, Nicholas would soon be making his way back to Parkland. Shortly after getting kicked out of Roxanne's house, Nicholas moved in with James and Kimberly Sneed, whose son JT went to Stoneman Douglas. The Sneeds were a respected family. James was an army vet who worked as a military intelligence analyst in the Middle East, and Kimberly was a neonatal ICU nurse.

After learning that Nicholas needed a place to stay, they agreed to let him live with them for the time being. And according to Kimberly, Nicholas was pretty depressed about his mother's death, but his spirit seemed to lift a bit once he moved in with them. She also said that Nicholas wanted a girlfriend so badly, but she made sure to remind him that girls are trouble, stay away from them. It's not worth it right now. You focus on getting yourself doing something in life.

Now, James and Kimberly had very strict rules within their home and Nicholas was instructed to follow these rules if he was going to live with them. The first rule was that Nicholas had to enlist in adult education classes so he could graduate. The Sneeds even drove him to that school every morning. The second rule that Nicholas had to follow was that he had to get a job and he ended up getting employed as a cashier at the local Dollar Tree.

And for the time being, it seemed like Nicholas was doing okay. Kimberly and James did note, however, that Nicholas was clearly a bit behind most people his age. He still didn't know how to do basic chores. He didn't know how to cook or do laundry. He didn't even know how to use the microwave, probably because Linda used to do all of that for him. So the Sneeds were not only giving him a place to live, but also teaching him valuable life lessons. Lessons that they called Adulting 101.

Now, Nicholas didn't have a car, but he did have a bike that he rode to and from work at the Dollar Tree. And from what the Sneeds could tell, Nicholas was adjusting well in their home. - Another big rule that the Sneeds enforced was gun safety. Since James was in the military, their family had a lot of guns. And they also didn't mind that Nicholas brought his own.

as long as he kept them in the safe inside of the house. James was the only person with a key to the safe, so if Nicholas wanted his guns, he would have to ask permission. And according to James and Kimberly, since he moved in in November, he only asked for the key two separate times. One time they told him yes, and the other time they told him no. According to the family, they didn't give him the key again.

so he must have somehow made a copy. The family also said that Nicholas kept a gold cross on his gun case and that he was extra loving to the family's pets. If only they had seen the number of dead animals that Nicholas had murdered for fun. By the time 2018 came around, everything seemed to be going smoothly, but in reality,

Nicholas Cruz was plotting a horrific crime against the students at Stoneman Douglas. And the warning signs had been there all along. On January 5th, 2018, a little over a month before the shooting, an anonymous caller close to Nicholas Cruz called the FBI to report him. We are going to read you a little bit of that transcript.

Thank you for calling the FBI. How can I help you today? I don't know how to go about this, but I'm on the Instagram account. I have, um... I wouldn't say he's by blood, but, um, I would consider him... He's only 18, but he's got the mental capacity of a 12 to 14 year old. His mother just passed away on the 1st of November.

But he's got these Instagram accounts. He started off saying he wanted to kill himself, so what I did was I called the Parkland, which is where he lives, the Parkland Police Department, and I spoke to officer. I didn't hear anything. I gave him all of the information I had. And then he just recently switched to he wants to kill people. And he put that on his Instagram, and about two days later, he took it off.

If you go to his Instagram pages, you'll see all of the guns he's into. He's into ISIS. And I'm afraid something's going to happen to him because he doesn't have the mental capacity. He can't. He's so outraged if someone talks to him about certain things. He had even pulled a rifle on his mother before she passed away because she wanted to get some money to...

Another problem is that he's 18 and his mother's life insurance policy is coming in and he's going to be receiving $25,000 from that, then at 21, 24, all the way up to 30. He's receiving $25,000 every year after that from a wrongful death suit that the mother had on his father, so he went out and took all of the money out of his mother's account.

I don't know how he got the debit card, but he did. He took it and he bought all of these rifles and ammunition and he posted pictures of them on Instagram. And my family, you know, distant cousins and myself are very concerned. I just want somebody to know about this so they can look into it. If they think it's worth something looking into, fine. And if not, I'll just know I have a clear conscience if he takes off and starts shooting places up.

The woman then tells the agent his Instagram usernames and proceeds. On the Instagram he says, quote, I want to kill people. And I know it's cutting up animals and things like that. Little animals. Right now it's just frogs. And I know for a fact it was a bird at one time. Just to give you a little background on him. Do you know when a bird will fly around in the backyard and then it hits your glass door and hits the ground? Mm-hmm.

Well, that's what happened. He brought the bird into the house. He threw it on his mother's kitchen counter and he started cutting it up. He has all kinds of hunting knives and I don't know what kind of knife he used, but he started cutting up and his mother Linda said, what are you doing? And he said, I want to see what its insides look like. Now, I don't know, but to me, that's a red flag. And then, you know, wanting to kill all these animals and...

He wants to do something in Arabic, he dresses up like a ninja or an ISIS guy, and he has all these pictures of rifles on his Instagram. Has he said anything else? You know, it's just so much, and I know he's going to explode.

A man he befriended, some young boy who is also on Instagram, his father, this boy's father, took him in. Him and his wife took Nicholas in and said he could live there with his guns and everything like that could still be in the house. It's just alarming to see these pictures and know what he's capable of doing and what could happen. He's not in school any longer. He never graduated high school.

He's thrown out of all these schools because he would just pick up a chair and throw it at somebody, a teacher or student, just because he didn't like the way they were talking to him.

But unfortunately, this tip never made it to the FBI field office. In the weeks before the massacre, the Sneed family said that Nicholas seemed happier than ever. He had even started seeing a therapist again. But if anyone would have seen the searches on Nicholas' phone in the months before the shooting, they would have known that he was on the verge of becoming the next school shooter.

We're going to read you some of the internet searches and things found on Nicholas' phone prior to the shooting. On November 14th, he searched shooting people massacre. The next day he searched rape caught on video and armed robber gets shot by every customer. On December 30th, 2017, at 10.27 p.m., he wrote in his notes, quote, control your breathing and trigger pull.

January 20th, 2018 at 5:58 PM, he wrote in his notes, "Basketball court full of targets still thinking of ways to kill people."

The next day, on January 21st, he writes, quote,

He also took a screenshot of a Wikipedia article on the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting. Nicholas also had pictures of his mother's grave. And interestingly enough, Linda Cruz was a bleeding heart liberal. But in the pictures on his phone, Nicholas placed his Make America Great Again hat right next to her grave.

On February 2nd, 2018, Nicholas took a screenshot of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas' school schedule and the times in which each class got out for the day. It was also around this time when he was constantly listening to the song "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People.

The lyrics to this song read: "Robert's got a quick hand. He'll look around the room but won't tell you his plan. He's got a rolled cigarette hanging out his mouth. He's a cowboy kid. He found a sick shooter gun in his dad's closet with a box of fun things. I don't even know what, but he's coming for you. He's coming for you. All the other kids with the pumped up kicks better run, better run. Outrun my gun."

On February 5th, 2018, Nicholas wrote his ex-girlfriend a love letter that read,

My love towards her grows without her. I am nothing. All this madness inside is about to burst without her. I have nothing. I wish we could love. I wish we could live, but at the end, to her, it's probably nothing. But that's okay because I love her. I love you, my angel. If I don't die, please see me. It will bring happiness to me. I want love. I want to be in love with you forever and ever, with no end in sight. Even if I'm raped to death, you will always be on my mind. That's how much my love is for you.

I see you not as a person but a soul lover I love that will never be broken. I'm in love with you my love, you have been the sweetest gentle being of my heart. I love you. Please be with me in the afterlife my dearest sweetheart. I will always dream about you even if I do stupid things. You're nothing but love in my life and I can't stand a day without you even after I've been a worthless trash can. I wish for you to be in my will with everything I leave behind.

It belongs to you and my brother. Half the cash goes to you and my brother. As my hatred grows, my love grows towards one person. My dear love." On February 6th through 9th, Nicholas looked up, quote, "Is killing people easy?" He took a picture of a bird he killed.

He also looked at pornography, psychcentral.com on homicidal thoughts and urges, various websites on riflescopes, Japanese anime, videos on people defending themselves with guns, videos on ghosts, Uber,

He searched "little teen porn", "therapist for homicidal", "best AR-15 sites", "how to get into a relationship", "how to get a girlfriend", and "how to not be afraid of the girl you like". He also screenshotted an article on Psych Central that read "Generally speaking, people who have homicidal fantasies are suffering in their own lives.

Maybe a person is struggling because he or she is not a part of the "N" crowd. Perhaps someone they like doesn't like them back. They might feel rejected. Feelings of rejection can be quite painful.

homicidal fantasies might develop as a way to compensate for the painful feelings of rejection. And earlier on, I mentioned that Nicholas was a pedophile and I'm going to add in a clip from his sentencing trial that's going on right now on some other things they found on his phone. Then the pedophile comment will make a lot of sense.

I'm reading off of page two still from Google accounts. I'll just give a representative sample. So there's fucking Puerto Rican. There is little girl porn, little girl stretching, Nazi flag patch sale, Nazi patch for sale, Antifa porn. I'm going on to page three. Little girls in swimwear, little girls, great porn.

Ava Braun, Hitler birthday, girl school shooter porn, ghetto Hispanic porn, nudism little girls, six-year-old girl pussy, little girl pussy medical pic, HIV positive porn, going on to page four, rape porn choking, Asian nudist little girl,

Mexican and white porn, school shooter porn, little girls kissing, going on to page five, I smell N-word, midget porn, tomboy porn, little girls chest, little girls masturbating, high school porn, virgin Christian girl porn, Black Lives Matter, Stoneman Douglas, Nazi.

On February 9th, he took a picture of a frog he killed. On February 10th and 11th, he looked up pornography, banking, Japanese anime, Wikipedia school shooting, Wikipedia Marshall County high school shooting, Kentucky, how the AR-15 became mass shooter's weapon of choice, a Rolling Stone article. He also looked up hot middle school girl in dress, porn uniform,

Women's Viagra for Sale School Shooters AR-15 Dollar Tree Parkland, Florida Virginia Tech Massacre Columbine Diary AR-15 Close Quarter Combat Real Combat Footage School Shooter Footage Videos Made by VT Shooter Columbine Documentaries AK-47 Combat Tribute Music Video Columbine Dramas VT Shooting Documentaries Philippine Special Forces Fighting ISIS Police Shooting Videos Documentary on School Shooting Simulator

Two days before the shooting, Nicholas looked up scenes from shooting video games with pumped up kicks playing. He looked up Columbine Documentaries' active shooter training video by the Columbus Police Department. Quote, I put Spongebob music over a school shooting. He also searched when a girl says okay, school shooters, pistol grip shotguns.

Can I buy a pistol grip shotgun in Florida? How long does it take for a cop to show up at a school shooting? I want to die.

As you can see, in the weeks leading up to the shooting, Nicholas' phone shows that he was clearly escalating. And even though the Sneeds thought he was doing better, it's obvious that it was all just a front, so he wouldn't raise any red flags.

On the night of February 13th, 2018, the Sneeds said that Nicholas ate a steak and cheese sandwich and a chocolate chip cookie and then went up to his room at around 8 p.m.

That night, as he sat in bed, he listened to "Kill Everybody" by Skrillex and a school shooter hype music video, which is Columbine footage that plays pumped up kicks in the background. No one in Parkland could have known the true horrors of what Nicholas Cruz had planned for the following day, but a video on his phone would give an idea of what the school shooter had in mind. - Hello, my name is Nick and I'm gonna be the next school shooter of 2018. My goal is at least 20 people.

with an AR-15 and a couple of tracerounds, I think I can do a good done. Location is Stone Douglas in Parkland, Florida. It's gonna be a big event. When you see me on the news, you'll all know who I am. You're all going to die. Can't wait. Today is the day. The day that it all begins. The day of my massacre shall begin.

All the kids in school will run in fear and hide. From the wrath of my power, they will know who I am. I am nothing. I am no one. My life is nothing and meaningless. Everything that I hold dear, I let go beyond your half. Every day, I see the world ending another day. I live a lone life, living seclusion and solitude. I hate everyone and everything. With the power of my AR, you will all know who I am.

I had enough of being told what to do and when to do. I had enough of being told that I'm an idiot and a dumb . In real life, you're all the dumb . You're all stupid and brainwashed by these political government programs. You will all see, you will all know who my name is. My love for you, Angie, will never go away. I hope to see you in the afterlife. When one day or another, you will end and we'll all die.

All right, so here's the plan. I'm going to go take an Uber in the afternoon before 2.40. From there, I'll go into the school campus, walk up the stairs, unload my bags, and get my AR and shoot people down at the main courtyard. I'll wait, and people will die. And now we're going to take our final ad break.

So let's talk for a second about productivity. It seems like every one of you is desperately searching to do more, to be more efficient. At least that's what people keep DMing us and letting us know. And that's how Courtney and I both feel. Sometimes the coffee just doesn't cut it. But we found this little shot that improved our morning so much. And we both love that we can take it with us everywhere and drink it whenever we need an energy boost.

This magical shot is called Magic Mind. Magic Mind is an energy shot with so many great ingredients. It's got L-theanine, bacopa monieri, ashwagandha. I mean, so many different great ingredients. L-theanine I love because the L-theanine can be found in matcha, which increases your focus and attention. And what I love about taking Magic Mind is honestly, I will drink a lot of coffee. I will take a lot of caffeine in the mornings. And it always comes with this massive drop, like you're on a roller coaster, you

crash but with magic mind I've found that honestly you don't have that crash and it's really a great product that makes you feel good and it makes me more creative that's why Courtney and I both stand behind it we love it we've tried out

a whole month's regimen of Magic Mind and we can't recommend this product enough. We only promote products on the show that we love. So go check out Magic Mind because if you need to be more productive, this is definitely the product for you. So get rid of that coffee and drink something that actually tastes good. For the next 10 days, you can get 40% off your subscription to Magic Mind at magicmind.co slash MIA with our discount code MIA.

Once again, that's 40% off your subscription. Go try it. We love this product. MagicMind.co slash MIA with our discount code MIA. Now, let's finish out this story. The next morning, on Valentine's Day of 2018, Nicholas woke up. He listened to Pumped Up Kicks again and then started getting ready. But he told the Sneeds that he wasn't going to school that day.

When they asked him why, he responded, "It's Valentine's Day and I don't go to school on Valentine's Day." He then tells them that instead, he's gonna go fishing. And they didn't really think much of this. They just assumed he was having a bad day because of his mother's death.

And because it was Valentine's Day, they thought that he was upset about his last breakup. A little past 9:00 AM, Nicholas calls JT Sneed, but he didn't answer because he was in class at Stoneman Douglas. He then calls Dollar Tree where he works and I believe he tells them that he can't come into work that day. After that, at around 12:00 PM, Nicholas calls his ex-girlfriend.

whose name on his phone was "Love of Your Life," but on the call she tells him to leave her alone. At around 1pm, Nicholas texts JT again and asks him what class he's in and who his teacher was. It's believed he did this so he could avoid JT's classroom and the shooting later that day.

He then sends a text to his ex-girlfriend that read, "Hello, it's very important." But she doesn't respond. At 2:00 PM, he sends her six different texts saying, "I love you. You know I will always love you." To which she tells him to leave her alone. And it was here when Nicholas Cruz puts on his JROTC uniform, grabs his AR-15 and calls the Uber to Stoneman Douglas High School.

Once the Uber arrives, he hops inside of her car and they make their way over to the school. Along the way, Nicholas continues to text his ex-girlfriend. Eat well, sleep well, and behave well, my love. You know I have a boyfriend, right?

"Doesn't matter anymore. I love you. You're the love of my life. You're the greatest person I've ever met." He then tells his ex that he loves her two more times and his final text was to JT, which said "Yo" and that was sent at 2:18. One minute later, the Uber pulls up in front of the school. Nicholas gets out of the car, walks through the unlocked doors onto campus,

and makes his way over to building 12. Once inside, he loads up his AR-15 with magazines that have swastikas etched into the sides. The only mercy he showed that day was when Chris McKenna walked into the stairwell and saw him with a gun. Nicholas tells Chris, "You better get out of here. Things are about to get ugly." But he didn't show mercy to Chris McKenna because he liked him.

It's believed that he did that because he wanted the students in the hallway to be his first victims. If he shot Chris in the stairwell, then that would give them a chance to run and hide. But moments later, he would enter the hallway of the first floor and begin indiscriminately shooting at his old classmates.

Now, just one minute into the shooting, you can see the school's deputy walk up to building 12 after hearing the gunshots. His name was, interestingly enough, Scott Peterson. And if you're a true crime fan, you'll know someone else with that name, and it's apparently cursed.

But this Scott Peterson was armed and he was the only person on campus at the time with the ability to take down the shooter. Here is his first transmission of the shooting just minutes in. 17 Bravo 3, 17 Bravo 4. Now after alerting authorities to the shots in building 12,

Instead of going inside and confronting the shooter, Scott Peterson runs to another building to take cover. And I just want to start by saying that I completely understand being scared in that moment. Having a handgun against someone with an AR-15 is a situation nobody wants to be in.

But if you aren't willing to run inside and confront a shooter when children are being gunned down in their classrooms, then simply do not sign up to be a police officer. We saw this exact same thing happen in the Uvalde shooting just a few months back, where armed men are standing behind letting children die because they're too scared to confront the gunmen. Now, Scott Peterson had been a police officer for over 30 years.

So it's not like he was an amateur. And let me also remind you that while Scott is running to take cover, coaches Aaron Feiss and Chris Hickson ran into that building without hesitation when they heard the gunshots. And they didn't even have weapons on them. They were running in that building to take the gunman down with their bare hands to save those children. But Scott Peterson wasn't.

And to make matters worse, you can literally hear Scott Peterson telling the other officers to stay away from the building. So not only was he not willing to help, but he was also trying to get other officers not to intervene as well. Now, about a week after the shooting, he would be suspended from the police department. And he would later say that the reason he didn't enter the school was because he didn't know where the shots were coming from.

But if you listen to the transmission, he literally says, "Shots coming from inside building 12." Scott would later be charged with child neglect for this incident. But another mistake that was made on campus that day was that a code red should have immediately been called upon hearing gunshots. But it was nearly three minutes into the shooting before one was called.

Because they waited three minutes, the students on the third floor weren't given enough warning to get in their classrooms and hide. Instead, they started evacuating into the halls thinking that there was a fire drill. And when Nicholas Cruz got to the third floor, he had plenty of targets because...

The code red wasn't called in time. Over the next few minutes, while Nicholas was still shooting inside of the building, eight more officers arrived on the scene, and you can literally hear the gunshots going off in their body cams. But again, instead of going inside, they stay back. And before they make their way into the building, Nicholas Cruz takes off his vest, ditches his gun on the third floor, and runs out of the building. He would be on the run for 82 minutes after the shooting, until he was finally arrested at 3.41 p.m.,

After his arrest, they brought him to the hospital for an evaluation because he had been talking about hearing voices and demons. But the evaluation proved that he was indeed sane. And from there, he was taken back to the police station and put in an interrogation room. In the footage from this room, you can see Nicholas sitting in a chair wearing a hospital gown. And before the detective comes into the room, he starts punching himself in the face. He punches himself about 10 times before saying, kill me, fucking kill me.

He then makes a pretend gun with his fingers and pretends to shoot himself in the head several times. Shortly after, Detective John Kirchhoff walks in the room. Now, Courtney watched literally six hours of this interrogation and she pulled together all the interesting parts of it so you don't have to watch the full thing yourselves. But in the beginning, the two talk about his living arrangements, his mother, how long ago his mother passed. They talk about how he had been going to an alternative school and how he worked at the Dollar Tree.

And then he mentions that he smokes marijuana, which will come into play a little later. But after they get through all of the getting to know each other talk, the detective asks him about the alleged voices he had been hearing. You go to the hospital, the doctors clear you. And you're talking about demons. What are the demons? Voices. Tell me about it. What are the voices about? It's another voice, the evil side. Okay. And how long has that voice been going on?

Years. Okay. When did it start, you think? When your mom passed? It started, you know, when my mom passed. Okay. Did it start how many years before your mom passed, you think? When my father died. Okay. Did you ever tell anybody about the voice? Never. And what does the voice say to you? Well, what does it tell you to do? Burn, kill, destroy. Okay. Burn, kill, destroy what? Anything. Okay. But have you ever burned, killed, or destroyed anything? No.

What did you burn, killed or destroyed? I burned just fire, just set fire. To what? In a pit, fire. Oh, a fire pit. Okay, well, I mean, the voice told you to burn something, you built a fire in a fire pit. What's destructive about that? That's what fire pits are made for. What else does the voice tell you to do that's

Kill animals. Okay, have you ever killed animals? Yes. What kind of animals? Birds. Birds? Wild birds or people's pets? How do you kill them? Wild birds. How do you kill them? Wait for them, kill them. Oh, can't catch them, so how do you wait for them? Out in the grass, wait for a bird to come up. There's no way of that. I'm a bird lover. There's no way. You can't catch a bird, Holmes. No, I mean like... With a pelican? Oh, okay. Where's your pelican?

It broke. Okay. Alright, so the voices tell you to hurt animals and start fires in the fire pit. Because other than Zach, who else have you told about this voice? No one. No one. Okay. And I can't remember, did you say you told your mom before she passed? No? Okay, so Zach's the only one you ever told. How about Emily? Did you ever tell Emily about the voice? I think I did. You think you did? You're not sure though? Not sure. You know Emily's last name? Brenner. Brenner?

Okay. Is she still a student out there? Is she still a student out at Douglas? She hasn't gone out at all. She hasn't gone to Douglas anymore? Alright, so let's talk about the last couple days. When was the last time you heard the voice? Yesterday. What time was it yesterday? It was at night. Okay. And where were you at? Work. You were at work? So you were at Dollar Tree. And what's the voice telling you? To hurt people. To hurt people. Hurt people at Dollar Tree?

or hurt people hurt people in general okay doesn't say specifically who all right so what happens is that you hear the voice this morning or no yeah what's the voice saying this morning okay let's talk about because did the voice the voice didn't tell you to take uber right yes it did it did yes the voice said take uber the voice is in me you're the voice there's those in here okay it's in your head yes what is it a male voice or a female voice male

Can you tell how old the voice is? My age. Okay. Do you have a good voice too or just a bad voice? Is there a voice inside of you that says, "Do good things"? No? I can't be. You held down a job for two years. If you were doing things bad, you wouldn't be able to hold a job down for two years, right? Okay. I mean, look.

It's me and then my bad side. I understand. Everybody's got a quote, good and bad side. There's people... No, it's a voice. The voice isn't here. And it's me. It's just regular me. Just trying to be a good person. Okay. But obviously, again, when you say it's a voice, it's you. It's all you. The voice is you as well.

The voice didn't force you to do anything, right? No, the voice did. It's two voices. There's one half that's a good and then a bad. Okay, well the voice tells me to go to lunch and not pay for my meal, but I pay for my meal because I know that's the right thing to do, right? You've asked two or three times to me today that you don't deserve stuff. Since me and you have been talking, have you heard the voices? What's it say? For you to cut yourself. For you to cut yourself.

Does the voice like me? Huh? Does the voice like me? He doesn't trust you. Why doesn't he trust me? I'm pretty relaxed, ain't I? I'm trying to figure that out too. Well, what does he like about me? I mean, I'm kind of grinning because I want to know what the voice's problem is with me. What doesn't he like about me? I treated you fairly. I've given you water. I talk nice to you, you know. You're too nice. I'm too nice, yeah. How many times has the voice talked to you while we've been in a room here together? A lot.

Is the voice that said jump out of the chair and do anything bad to that policeman? Saying kill yourself now. I don't really believe there is a voice to be honest with you. There is a voice. No, I don't think there is. I'm telling the truth. No. I mean, I feel you probably want to kill yourself because of what happened, but... No, the voice is telling me to kill myself. Okay, but the voice is telling you that the AR-15s is... You like guns, man.

Now it's clear that Nicholas is saying that he hears voices as an excuse for what he did. The voices told me to sounds a lot better than "I wanted to be the next mass shooter."

And the detective is quick to call him out on this lie. But after this, Nicholas starts to shut down a bit. He even threatens to kill himself. So the detectives decide to bring in his brother Zachary. Here is the audio from that interaction. What do you think mom would think right now? She would cry. She would cry. People think you're a monster now. A monster? You don't have anything. You're not acting like yourself.

Why? Like, we have to leave. This is not who you are. Like, I think this is not even a game. You're not gonna wake up and be out of here. I know. You remember when we were in the hospital and I told you I had your back? Remember? When mom died? Remember we were walking down the hallway and I told you? You don't remember. You probably don't because you just did some fucked up shit. I told you when we were walking down the hallway that it was just me and you and I had your back.

Alright, I know you probably feel like you have nobody, but I care about you. You're only 19, dude. Do you know how many years you had ahead of you? Do you know how many years you had? Years! You're still stuck in your teenage mindset and you did this dumb shit. You're not thinking about your future. I'm a failure, dude. I mean... There's no question about it. Nah, dude. You're just... You're lost. You're not in your head. Like, you're not... You're not with yourself. You're...

I feel like you're caught up in something in your head. You're not right in the head. That's for sure. You're not right in the head. I like hanging out with you, dog, but you know we have different thoughts. We didn't really, I don't know, we do different stuff. That's why I wasn't always there. I like to skate, you like to

Guns, you guys just, you like guns. That's all I knew, alright? No matter what happens, I'm gonna come see you, alright? I'm gonna come see you, I care about you, alright? I'm gonna come see you, alright? I promise, I'm gonna come see you every time. I care about you, alright? I care about you, dog, like, I hope you know. I care for you. You really messed up this time, like...

at a point where it's not even like a joke. No one can get you out of this dog. Soon after this, Nicholas would be taken away and put in a jail cell, while 17 families would go to bed that night knowing they would never see their loved one again. You come to the conclusion this is just absolutely pure evil. This has been a day we've seen the worst in humanity.

Tomorrow is going to bring out the best in humanity as we come together to move forward from this unspeakable tragedy. Five days later, Nicholas Cruz would appear in court, charged with 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder. In the weeks after the shooting, the city of Parkland, Florida did their best to try and heal from this horrific tragedy.

17 funerals were held with thousands of people in attendance, and the injured victims were slowly starting to get back into everyday life.

But after the chaos of the tragedy settled, there was a lot of outrage as to how this could have happened. There was even more outrage when the people of Parkland found out that multiple people had sent in tips to local law enforcement and the FBI about the potential dangers of Nicholas Cruz. He wasn't planning this massacre in the shadows. He was flat out telling people what he was going to do.

and where he was going to do it. You see, in America, not much is done to prevent these kind of tragedies. And instead of taking action, they put the responsibility on us, telling us to educate ourselves on the warning signs of a mass shooter. And then when we see it, they tell us to call the police. But in this case, they did everything they were supposed to,

And even then, no one took it seriously. Here is Elena Petty's dad on his thoughts. In a season of loss, it is difficult to find meaning in tragedy. The senseless murder of so many, including my own beloved daughter Elena, tests the limits of faith and demands more endurance than we thought possible. It is a test abruptly forced on us, briefly on that last point especially. Nicholas Cruz and the deadly danger he posed were the worst kept secrets in Parkland.

with one inexcusable exception. He was kept a secret from many of the parents of the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Yet every relevant authority knew he was deeply troubled with a potential for lethal violence. The foster system knew it. Yet despite the fact that each of these agencies were fully authorized and empowered to take action well before tragedy struck, not one of them fulfilled their duty. The testament of their failure is 17 dead children and teachers.

After receiving the tips that they did, this shooting should have been prevented, but it wasn't.

Here is an FBI agent responding to this mistake. Another horrifying detail of this case is that during my research,

I found dozens of students who said they immediately knew the shooter was Nicholas Cruz as soon as they heard that someone was shooting up the school. If, like, someone would do this, you would expect it to be this kid. A lot of people were saying that it was going to be him and stuff like that. We actually, we threw, a lot of kids threw jokes around like that, saying that he was the one that screwed up the school, but it turns out, you know, everyone predicted it. He wasn't quiet about his plans of mass destruction. And still, somehow...

He was successful in committing the worst high school shooting in American history. And it's important to note that Nicholas Cruz bought all of these guns legally. With all the reports made about him, all of the disciplinary problems he had had over the years, there's absolutely no reason that he should have been able to legally buy a gun. Another thing people were upset about is that if we aren't going to take the guns out of the hands of these people, then we at least need to make our schools safer so that these maniacs can't walk in and shoot children while they learn.

After the shooting, there was a lot of outrage about the security measures at the school. For one, according to the draft report, the main student entrance is on the east side of the school between buildings 1 and 8. The entrance consists of a 10-foot tall metal gate with three double-door entries. The doors regularly remain closed but unlocked and unstaffed. It shouldn't be that easy for people to walk into these schools. The entrances need to not only be locked, but they need to be staffed so that a shooter can't walk in behind another student.

So the issue isn't just guns, it's everything, including mental health and safer schools. And in the wake of the tragedy, it seemed like everyone was trying to come up with solutions as to how we can make this country safer for our children. Many of the victims' families even met with Donald Trump to discuss the tragedy and to try find solutions. Here's what the mayor of Parkland had to say to President Trump.

We have a great city. It's been one of the safest cities in America and the fact that this happened in our city means it can happen anywhere. We are blessed that we are a very close-knit, family-oriented city and our community is coming together. We lost 17 lives but the ripple effects throughout the community are devastating. I have spent the last week going to funerals. Friends of mine lost their children.

We have to at some point care enough and be strong enough to come up with solutions. And I hope we will. And if I might, I had two parents who lost children this past week. Text me some of their thoughts if I might share them with you. Thank you. I spoke to Jennifer and Tony Montalto. They just had buried their daughter Gina yesterday. And their comments were, so Tony is an airline pilot.

And he said he supports the Second Amendment, but he does not believe there is a need for SALT rifles. He also said that the FBI, there were signs missed and it reminded him of 9/11. So we do have to work on making sure that our protocols are in place so that people don't slip through the cracks, literally in this case.

We also talked about the red flag laws. I think there's a little progress being made in Florida now on the red flag laws, which is when somebody shows signs of hurting themselves or someone else, you can take their gun away from them. Fred Guttenberg, the service for his daughter Jamie was last week on Friday, and he would like the administration to publicly acknowledge the role of guns.

Now these two parents talked about guns and there are absolutely lots of areas where there's room for improvement. Lots of areas from mental health, from teacher training. But also part of that is also the gun issue. So it's not that it's just those and not the gun, it's all of them. And in the debate world, in the high school debate world, the kids talk about when they bring up legislation you want to have impacts. You're not bringing up legislation that doesn't have a positive impact.

And what is the positive impact of having legislation that stops assault rifles, bans assault rifles? It could save a life. And that needs to be a priority in any case. And when we talk about rights, so we have the right for free speech. But if free speech in any way endangers someone, it gets restricted.

And I think, I appreciate that we're coming here to listen and I appreciate that we're coming here to look at all different perspectives because we need action and we need to be solution-oriented. Next is what Meadow Pollack's dad had to say. Because my daughter has no voice. She was murdered last week and she was taken from us. Shot nine times on the third floor. We as a country failed our children. This shouldn't happen. We go to the airport

I can't get on a plane with a bottle of water, but we leave it. Some animal could walk into a school and shoot our children. It's just not right. And we need to come together as a country and work on what's important. And that's protecting our children in the schools. That's the only thing that matters right now.

Everyone has to come together and not think about different laws. We need to come together as a country, not different parties, and figure out how we protect the schools. It's simple. It's not difficult. We protect airports. We protect concerts, stadiums, embassies, the Department of Education that I walked in today that has a security guard in the elevator.

How do you think that makes me feel? In the elevator, they got a security guard. I'm very angry that this happened because it keeps happening. 9-11 happened once and they fixed everything. How many schools, how many children have to get shot? It stops here with this administration and me. I'm not going to sleep until it's fixed. Here's what a student at Stoneman Douglas had to say. My name is Sam Zyfe.

I'm a student from Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland and I just want to take a second first to thank you for having me Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, Madam Secretary. I was on the second floor in that building texting my mom, texting my dad, texting three of my brothers that I was never going to see them again. And then it occurred to me that my 14 year old brother was directly above me in that classroom

where Scott Beagle was murdered. Scott Beagle got my brother into class. He was the last kid to get back into that class. And I'm sure a lot of you have read my texts on the internet with my brother. I didn't plan for them to go viral. I just wanted to share with the world because no brothers or sisters or family members or anyone should ever have to share those texts with anyone.

And that's why I'm here. I lost a best friend who's practically a brother. And I'm here to use my voice because I know he can't. I want to feel safe at school. You know, senior year and junior year, they were big years for me when I turned my academics around, started connecting with teachers, and I started actually enjoying school. And now, I don't know how I'm ever going to step foot on that place again.

or go to a public park after school or be walking anywhere. Me and my friends, we get scared when a car drives by anywhere. I think I agree with Hunter and Huck and how we need to let ideas flow and get the problem solved. I don't understand. I turned 18 the day after. Woke up to the news that my best friend was gone.

And I don't understand why I could still go in a store and buy a weapon of war, an AR. I was reading today that a person 20 years old walked into a store and bought an AR-15 in five minutes with an expired ID. How is it that easy to buy this type of weapon? How do we not stop this after Columbine, after Sandy Hook? I'm sitting with a mother that lost her son. It's still happening.

In Australia there was a shooting at a school in 1999. You know after that they took a lot of ideas, they put legislation together and they stopped it. Can anyone here guess how many shootings there have been in the schools since then in Australia? Zero. We need to do something and that's why we're here. So let's be strong for the fallen who don't have a voice to speak anymore and let's never let this happen again. Please.

Please. Next was a mother who tragically lost her son in the Sandy Hook school shooting. My story is far too well known. I had two sons who were at Sandy Hook school. My eldest, who was eight at the time, survived, and my six-year-old son Dylan did not. And I have been working tirelessly on this issue for over five years now. Um...

The organization that I help lead, Sandy Hook Promise, is very focused on keeping kids safe at school because no parent should go through this. Every parent who sends their kid to school should know without any question in their mind that they're going to be coming home that day. This is not a difficult issue. You're absolutely right. There are solutions and this administration has the ability to put them in place

And after Sandy Hook they said, "We wouldn't let this happen again." And yet it has continued to happen for five years. How many more deaths can we take as a country? How many more teenagers and six and seven year olds can we allow to die? Don't let that happen anymore on your watch. And I implore you, consider your own children. You don't want to be me. No parent does. And you have the ability to make a difference and save lives today. Please don't waste this.

Thank you. Trump then offers up some solutions that he had been considering. Well, thank you, too. And I will say again, background checks are going to be very strong. We need that. And then after we do that, when we see there's trouble, we have to nab them.

You know, years ago we had mental hospitals, mental institutions. We had a lot of them and a lot of them have closed. They've closed. Some people thought it was a stigma. Some people thought, frankly, it was the legislators thought it was too expensive. Today, if you catch somebody, they don't know what to do with him. He hasn't committed the crime, but he may very well. And there's no mental institution. There's no place to bring him.

And we have that a lot. Even if they caught this person, I'm being nice when I use the word person, they probably wouldn't have known what to do. They're not going to put them in jail. And yet, so there's no that middle ground of having that institution where you had trained people that could handle it and do something about it and find out how sick he really is because he is a sick guy.

And he should have been nabbed a number of times, frankly. Your concept and your idea about it is called concealed carry. And it only works where you have people very adept at using firearms, of which you have many. And it would be teachers and coaches. If the coach had a firearm in his locker when he ran at this guy, that coach was very brave. Saved a lot of lives, I suspect.

But if he had a firearm, he wouldn't have had a run. He would have shot and that would have been the end of it. And this would only be obviously for people that are very adept at handling a gun. And it would be it's called concealed carry. So we'll be doing the background checks. We'll be doing a lot of different things, but we'll certainly be looking at ideas like that. And after Trump talked about arming teachers, a man who lost his son at Sandy Hook had to say this.

And my heart absolutely breaks for the families of Parkland. I have a sense of what you are going through now. I've been going through it for five years. This is my son Daniel. He was seven years old when he was shot to death in his first grade classroom in Sandy Hook Elementary School just a little over five years ago. My wife Jackie could not be here today because she's a school teacher and she takes that job seriously and sent me as the ambassador. Jackie is a career educator and she will tell you she has spent

over a decade in the Bronx. And she will tell you that school teachers have more than enough responsibilities right now than to have to have the awesome responsibility of lethal force to take a life. Thank you. Nobody wants to see a shootout in a school and a deranged sociopath on his way to commit an act of murder in a school with the outcome, knowing the outcome is going to be suicide, is not going to care if there's somebody there with a gun. That's their plan anyway.

I am going to build on what my friend and colleague Nicole Hockley said. We tried this legislative approach. I've been in this building before many times, wringing our hands, pleading with legislators, what can we do? Until we finally said we have to go home and do this ourselves. And we built something. Sandy Hook Promise has built something that works.

We train students and we train teachers and we train educators with the tools how to recognize these people and with the tools of how to intervene and with the tools to get them to the help that they need before they pick up a gun or any other weapon and commit a horrible tragedy. It works. We don't charge for it. We're not asking for money. We've already stopped school shootings. We've already prevented suicides.

We've already captured other social issues like bullying and cutting. We know that it works. We have a solution right here. We're asking for you to please help. We need to do this nationally now. Thank you. And we want to end this podcast on a positive note, so we're going to skip ahead and talk about Nicholas Cruz for a second. But last year, while in jail awaiting trial, this is what he had to say. ...that either side wishes to add to the record or present at this time.

I am very sorry for what I did and I have to live with it every day. And that if I were to get a second chance, I would do everything in my power to try to help others. And I am doing this for you and I do not care if you do not believe me. And I love you and I know you don't believe me, but I have to live with this every day.

and brings me nightmares and I can't live with myself sometimes but I try to push through because I know that's what you guys would want me to do. I hate drugs and I believe this country would do better if everyone would stop smoking marijuana and doing all these drugs and causing racism and violence out in the streets. I'm sorry and I can't even watch TV anymore and I'm trying my best to maintain my composure and I just want you to know I'm really sorry and I hope you give me a chance

And when I heard this, I couldn't believe it. He's blaming marijuana. And I can attest marijuana does not make people shoot places up.

It's also interesting how he's talking about racism and hatred when he was the one drawing swastikas and calling people slurs. But anyways, Nicholas Cruz's trial actually just started in July of 2022 and in October they are going to ultimately decide whether or not he will get the death penalty.

And he's the first mass shooter in our country's history to ever have a trial. So we will definitely be updating you on all of that

I have been following it very closely, watching all of these surviving victims' testimonies, expert testimonies, and I gotta say, it is so emotional. And the jurors are actually going to tour Building 12 later this year so that they can get a good idea of everything that happened that day. Now, I do want to mention that Stoneman Douglas is still operating, but Building 12 has been vacant since the shooting.

and they do plan on demolishing it in the future. But back to our story, about a month after the shooting, the students at Stoneman Douglas were outraged. They were angry about all the warning signs and how this guy was still able to step into their school and murder their classmates. And they didn't want to sit back and let the world move on without making a difference.

So they decided to start a movement called March for Our Lives. And on March 24th, 2018, over 2 million people in 800 different cities around the country

joined a march demanding safety within our schools. It was the largest youth-led movement since the Vietnam War. And I was reading some of the signs that people made for the March for Our Lives and I was in tears, so I wanted to read you a few of them that stood out to me. How can we be the future if we never live long enough to get there? Am I next? Please don't shoot.

The second amendment was written when I was deemed three-fifths of a person. Protect kids, not guns. I should be reading books, not eulogies. My college fund shouldn't pay for my funeral. Enough blood has been shed. I should be leaving school in a cap and gown, not a body bag. The Columbine generation marching for the Stoneman Douglas generation.

And let's take a moment to honor the sacrifice of our brave school children who laid down their lives to protect our right to bear arms. I also saw some that were a big group of people who were holding up signs of the last text they sent to their family when a gunman entered their building. And that one just really got me. All of those signs were so powerful. But on that day,

Everyone took to the streets. They came together, they chanted, and they demanded change. And many of the Stoneman Douglas survivors gave speeches. Here are a few of those. Welcome to the revolution. It is a powerful and peaceful one because it is of, by, and for the young people of this country. Who are we? MSD! Who are we? MSD! Who?

MSP! Who are we? MSP! They will try to separate us in demographics. They will try to separate us by religion, race, congressional district and class. They will fail. We will come together.

We will get rid of these public servants that only serve the gun lobby and we will save lives. My generation, having spent our entire lives seeing mass shooting after mass shooting, has learned that our voices are powerful and our votes matter. We must educate ourselves and start conversations that keep our country moving forward and we will.

We hereby promise to fix the broken system we've been forced into and create a better world for the generations to come. Don't worry, we've got this. Since the time that I came out here,

It has been six minutes and 20 seconds. The shooter has ceased shooting and will soon abandon his rifle. Blend in with the students as they escape and walk free for an hour before arrest. Fight for your lives before it's someone else's job. The students of this movement show the world just how powerful your voice can be when you stand up and demand change.

The young people of this country are tired of growing up in a society where they don't feel safe, especially within our schools. And regardless of where you stand on this issue, whether or not you want to blame guns or mental health, our government isn't doing anything in either of those areas. And the longer we fight over who is right and who is wrong, more children are going to die at our hands.

It's time for us to work together as a country and come up with solutions so that no child has to die within a classroom. Enough is enough. This shooting happened four years ago and the students of Stoneman Douglas said never again.

But week after week, we see that it continues to happen. But this generation that grew up in an era of mass shootings, they are the future of this country. And one can only hope that if our current politicians won't make changes to protect our children,

then someday these children will. And to end this, I want to leave you with a video that the family of Joaquin Oliver, who died at Stoneman Douglas, they worked with some people and created this incredible video called The Unfinished Vote.

I'm going to play the audio for you, but I really encourage you to go and watch it yourself. They made a video of Joaquin and they got his facial features and what his voice sounded like and they created a message from him. Here it is. 911, what is your emergency? At the age of 17, Joaquin Oliver was killed in a shooting at a school in Florida.

It's now two years on and his parents who've been campaigning against gun violence have used remarkable technology to bring a realistic virtual version of Joaquin to life. It's very hard for me to look at this. So please, please listen to what our son has to say. Yo, it's me. It's Guac. I've been gone for two years and nothing's changed, bro.

The election in November is the first one I could have voted in, but I'll never get to choose the kind of world I wanted to live in. So you've got to replace my vote. It's extraordinary and utterly, utterly heartbreaking. If it takes your breath away, imagine the impact this video has on Joaquin Oliver's parents. Using technology, allowing their son to call on voters to bring changes.

We recreated his expressions, his voice, the way he moves. On unfinishedvotes.com, people could replace the votes for Joaquin and other gun violence victims. Every time a lost loved one was uploaded, the site and social content changed in honor of that person. Joaquin's parents have made it their mission to keep his voice alive. They are bringing back a dead kid to do a fucking PSA about voting. The Oliver family, my heart goes out to them. What you're doing really matters.

So let's all get together and defeat gun violence before gun violence defeats us. Vote for me, because I can't.

Hey, everybody. It's Colin again. Thank you so much for joining us for this week's episode of Murder in America. I wrote next week's episode. It's about murder and death in Disney World. And trust me, that is a whirlwind of an episode. So please be sure not to miss that one. Tune in next week. I want to give a shout out to all of our amazing patrons who joined our Patreon this week. Hannah Edwards, Kendall Roberts, Kevin Ault.

Alex Montano, Lainey, DeathRage, Jordan Riley, Nathaniel Perkins, Kirsten Lakawa, Kyler Fulgham, Esmeralda Gutierrez, Casey Hale, Leslie, Barbara Dixon, Juan Vargas, Tiffany Miller, Claire Matthews, Andrew Strickler, Jennifer Garrison, Stephanie Garcia, Blake Adams, Phyllis Hill, Cooper Murray, Jennifer Erickson, Fiona Atkinson, Anna Perry, Nicholas, Trista Wolf, Abigail Killian, Sheila Berner, Cody Ketzel,

Quince offers timeless and high quality items that I absolutely adore. Online shopping can be a little bit difficult, but Quince makes it so easy.

When I was going through and adding items to my cart, there were so many options that I had to choose from and I was so obsessed with all of them. Every piece of clothing is so high quality. It will last you forever and everything is so cute.

Quince offers so many high quality products for all different types of people like cashmere sweaters from $50, pants for every occasion, washable silk tops, and so much more. The best part? All Quince items are priced 50-80% less than similar brands. So after ordering from Quince, I received the 100% European Linen Blazer, the Flo Knit Breeze Performance Tee, and the Flo Knit Breeze Performance Polo, and

I was absolutely stunned by the quality of the clothing and the European linen blazer is perfect. I mean, it fits me so unbelievably well. It's slimming and I can't tell you enough. It's just ridiculously high quality. So if you're having a hard time switching your wardrobe from summer to fall, I highly, highly recommend you shop at Quint.

It makes switching seasons a breeze with Quince's high-quality closet essentials. Go to quince.com slash america for free shipping on your orders and 365-day returns. That's quince, q-u-i-n-c-e dot com slash america to get free shipping and 365-day returns. quince.com slash america

Staying connected is important in today's world. Whether it's hearing the news of a new baby in the family or calling work to let your boss know you're running late, phone service keeps you connected with your world. At AT&T, we know that some Americans face life every day without the comfort and security of having phone service. In certain areas, you may be able to reduce your phone bill with a Lifeline discount if you are in a qualifying low-income household.

Additional discounts of up to $25 may be available to those living on federally recognized tribal lands where AT&T offers Lifeline. To find out more about Lifeline and other AT&T products and services, call us at 800-288-2020 or go to att.com slash lifeline if you have access to the internet.

Other restrictions apply.

I just want to express...

the gratitude that Courtney and I have for every single one of you people out there listening, because y'all have made our dreams come true. And we really want you all to know how much we appreciate tuning in and listening every single week. Y'all have made this bigger than we could have ever imagined. It would be. And yeah, join us next week for that dark side of Disney episode. I'm excited to share what I found with y'all. And, uh, as always,

We'll see you next week, everybody. Much love, and catch you on the next one.

Staying connected is important in today's world. Whether it's hearing the news of a new baby in the family or calling work to let your boss know you're running late, phone service keeps you connected with your world. At AT&T, we know that some Americans face life every day without the comfort and security of having phone service. In certain areas, you may be able to reduce your phone bill with a Lifeline discount if you are in a qualifying low-income household.

Additional discounts of up to $25 may be available to those living on federally recognized tribal lands where AT&T offers Lifeline. To find out more about Lifeline and other AT&T products and services, call us at 800-288-2020 or go to att.com slash lifeline if you have access to the internet.

Other restrictions apply.