BREAKING: Deputy and counselors recommended institutionalizing Nikolas Cruz long before deadly massa

[MelissaB]

BREAKING: Deputy and counselors recommended institutionalizing Nikolas Cruz long before deadly massacre at Florida school.

Link to tweet

Update w/ story:

APNewsBreak: Some wanted Florida suspect committed in 2016

MIAMI (AP) — Officials were so concerned about the mental stability of the student accused of last month’s Florida school massacre that they decided he should be forcibly committed.

But the recommendation was never acted upon.

A commitment under the law would have made it more difficult if not impossible for Nikolas Cruz to obtain a gun legally.

Cruz is accused of the shooting rampage that killed 14 students and three school employees at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Feb. 14. In addition, 17 people were wounded.

But more than a year earlier, documents in the criminal case against Nikolas Cruz and obtained by The Associated Press show school officials and a sheriff’s deputy recommended in September 2016 that Cruz be involuntarily committed for a mental evaluation.

More: https://apnews.com/9f92fe777771465b87f6ec828e40e9fb

[mr_lebowski]

1. This story is a gift to the NRA .. 'See, if we'd just follow EXISTING laws ... don't need new ones!'

That's one of their faves, and guess what?

In this case ... they unfortunately have a semblance of a valid argument.

[MichMary]

3. I don't care if it is

a gift to the NRA. It's true. There were so many glaring opportunities to prevent the killings, and the ball was dropped every single time.

[mr_lebowski]

5. Fair enough ... I'm not saying the story shouldn't be told,not by any stretch,only pointing out the

unfortunate reality that it helps them with their narrative.

But facts are facts.

FL does NOT have their shit together when it comes to stuff like this. Their whole governmental apparatus is pretty well constantly shown to be a joke.

[bettyellen]

7. Yet there were enough loopholes the system did not work. His caretaker tried to prevent him

From getting guns. That was the cause of one of the fights that LEO were faked to the home about. It wasn’t enough. Leaving it to the family’s discretion is never going to work.

[MichMary]

8. The story didn't say

that it was the family's discretion that he not be committed. In fact, it says they don't know why he wasn't. I don't think it was a loophole; I got the impression that it was a failure of the system.

[Bettie]

10. Given some experience with people who have had violent family members

who needed to be committed, there probably wasn't a spot available.

If you have plenty of money, you can find something, but if you have to rely on public funding for it, there is often nothing available.

[MichMary]

13. That's beyond terrible. n/t

[bettyellen]

14. He could have been arrested for assaulting the son of his caretaker once- they declined becasue

it was only a month or so after his mother had died. He’d been the cause of many calls to the police dept and nine apparently bad enough to baker act him. But the totality of the violent and frightening interactions should have amounted to something actionable. It did not. In every case it was left to the family and or guardians to decide what would happen. The police were able to walk away knowing there was a very dangerous young man off the hook- multiple times. That’s the system.

[MichMary]

15. The system sucks

Yes, if he hadn't had access to guns this wouldn't have happened; but there still would have been an extremely troubled young man who didn't get help. Even without the guns, he was dangerous to others.

[bettyellen]

16. The automatic weapon increases the ability to harm with minimum effort. Its much harder to stab a

A person - super hard to stab multiple people unless you’re in a full blown psychotic frenzy. It’s always going to be a difficult thing for family and friends to give over loved ones to “the system”, things have got to change.
Anyone flagged in domestic disputes this many times needs to be investigated before given a licensed fire arm.

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. I worked with the Baker Act for some years.

I also just read the AP story carefully.

Most times, the question of commitment is made after a patient has been brought to a MH facility or the jail or hospital,
ie..already in the hands of authorities.

To back up in this guy's case, there was a report, more than one, from the school cop and staff, who legally had to report on the kid.
The next step is evaluation, and it sounds like that is what happened when the Henderson Behavioral Health came out to the house and talked to him.
In the article, it sounds like they documented him denying he had any feelings of harm to self and others, and took him at his word.
BUT...
I would have called the school and talked to those concerned adults to get a wider picture.
That probably would have revealed some history and the fact that his brother had been committed a couple years previously.
Also the arm cutting is a huge flag.

The available information, and history of the kid, should have been sufficient to do a 72 hour hold for further evaluation.
Judges have ordered a hold for some people I evaluated based on a lot less history than that.

The truth is you can write reports that will slant decisions one way or the other, and still have your CYA documentation.
In this case, I imagine the evaluation documents are gonna get a lot of scrutiny.

but...that eval. was 2 years ago..well, 18 months or so, looks like.

[brush]

12. A strickter background check law would've stopped Cruz from buying the gun though, so...

fuck whatever the NRA contends.

Guns for any and everyone is what they want.

[MichMary]

2. It's heartbreaking

The killings could have been prevented, but safeguards intended to save lives all broke down.

[Phoenix61]

4. Baker act criteria is very narrow

Basically, suicidal or homicidal at that moment. School employees cannot Baker Act. Law enforcement can start Baker Act proceedings but it's the receiving facility that actually Baker Acts the person.

[lunasun]

6. It was the same deputy from the school. Wonder why they couldn't get him committed

There is no evidence Cruz was ever committed. Coincidentally, the school resource officer who recommended that Cruz be “Baker Acted” was Scot Peterson — the same Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy who resigned amid accusations he failed to respond to the shooting by staying outside the building where the killings occurred.

David S. Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor, said that an involuntary commitment would have been a huge red flag had Cruz attempted to buy a firearm legally.

“If he had lied, hopefully the verification of the form would have pulled up the commitment paperwork,” Weinstein said.

The documents do not say why Cruz was not committed under the Baker Act or whether he may not have qualified for other reasons. The law allows a law enforcement officer such as Peterson to initiate commitment under the Baker Act.

An attorney for Peterson did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Sunday.

[MichMary]

9. I've read that

Peterson later ignored complaints about Cruz. That does not make sense. If he had previously thought the kid was dangerous enough to be involuntarily committed, why would he later let complaints slide?

[jmowreader]

11. He may have just given up

There are only so many times someone can say "you need to fix this" and be told no before you finally throw up your hands and say "fine, it's your problem now."

[LisaL]

18. Most likely.