Family That Took in Nikolas Cruz, Parkland Shooter Hit with Lawsuits, Criticism

[appalachiablue]

Sun Sentinel, 'Family That Took In Nikolas Cruz Hit with Lawsuits and Criticism,' May 20, 2018
*EXCERPTS:

PARKLAND, Fla. - Some see them as saviors who opened their home to a grieving young man after his mother died. Others say they were naive or negligent and failed to properly supervise a dangerous 19-year-old and his cache of guns.

James and Kimberly Snead let Nikolas Cruz move into their Parkland home for the 2 1/2 months before the self-confessed shooter murdered 17 people and injured 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. They say their act of kindness had tragic consequences they never imagined.

The Sneads, who say they felt sorry for their son's 19-year-old friend after he was left orphaned, have already been named as defendants in two civil lawsuits connected to the Feb. 14 attack at the Parkland school.
One is a wrongful death claim filed by the estate of 18-year-old Meadow Pollack. The other is a negligence complaint filed by the parents of Anthony Borges, the 15-year-old who survived five bullet wounds.
The Sneads anticipate they will be named in more lawsuits in the coming weeks and months. They say they fear the litigation will rapidly drive them into bankruptcy and they don't have the money to even hire an attorney to defend them.
"We're like many other families in America today, we live paycheck to paycheck," James Snead told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in an interview Thursday.

People nationwide have sent them cards and letters, praising them for taking Cruz into their home and commiserating about how it all went horribly wrong. The Sneads said they knew only that Cruz was depressed by his mother's death, that he had been involved in fights at school and that he seemed immature and quirky.
But they've also been scorned as ludicrously naive or willfully blind for letting their son's relatively new friend move into their home with his collection of guns, including the AR-15 he used in the slayings.
The lawsuits filed against the Sneads allege they should have known Cruz was mentally ill and posed a threat to others. The Pollack and Borges families are seeking damages. Also named as defendants in the Pollack lawsuit, for now, are former Broward Sheriff's deputy Scot Peterson, the estate of Cruz's mother, Lynda, and two mental health agencies that may have treated Cruz. The Borges suit names the Sneads, the two mental health agencies and the estate of Cruz's mother. The sheriff's office, school district, FBI and others may be sued later.

...A woman who called the FBI's tip line on Jan. 5 - less than six weeks before the massacre - reported her concerns about Cruz's gun ownership, his disturbing social media posts and the potential that he might carry out a school shooting. The FBI has admitted the call, from a close friend of the Cruz family who has not been publicly identified, was mishandled and the information she provided was not investigated until after Cruz struck...The woman who called the FBI also indicated that Cruz had declined to communicate with her.
She told the FBI she knew that Cruz was expecting to inherit at least $25,000 and had told someone that Snead was going to invest it for him. The woman expressed concern about if that was appropriate and also said Cruz "gets crazy" and suspicious about his money.
Snead said he never tried to get his hands on Cruz's inheritance but did offer to take Cruz to a bank and have him meet with a professional financial adviser: "I didn't want him to go out and blow it."..More...
Read More: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/family-that-took-in-nikolas-cruz-hit-with-lawsuits-and-criticism/ar-AAxxzJC?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=HPCOMMDHP15

[mercuryblues]

1. I knew as soon as the Sneads

started their media tour it was to limit their culpability. they could not stress enough how NORMAL he was and how NORMAL he was that morning.

[appalachiablue]

3. Post-event I followed some news, incl. the inheritance but

diverted to the Parkland student activists. So I've missed the Sneads responses in the media, as to Nikolas 'normalcy.'

It's all a complex human tragedy, now a growing legal mess involving so many.

[mercuryblues]

5. I saw the on DR. Phil

They came off as very rehearsed by an attorney. They saw nothing unusual about his behavior. Did not know he had an online presence, Did not know he bragged about killing animals. Did not know he was racist, anti Semitic or homophobic.

How he was depressed over the death of his mother. But always so polite and respectful. A quiet kid.

They did not know how got the keys to the gun safe.


Like I said, they came off very prepped.

[appalachiablue]

6. Tx. So he lived there 2 1/2 mos., they knew about the gun & bereavement

issues yet essentially know nothing more of the other overt negative behaviors, flags. Hard to believe, and from what you described it appears they are being prepared professionally in this extended, painful process. What an ordeal.

From the OP, Sun article,

.."Though their critics don't believe them, Snead says he and his family saw no warning signs that Cruz would turn violent. They said he was pleasant and followed their house rules. They tried to get him re-enrolled at Stoneman Douglas, but officials declined to take him back so they enrolled him at an off-campus learning center, run by the district, at Rock Island Professional Development Center in Oakland Park. They said he seemed to be doing well there and district officials never gave them any warnings about Cruz's behavior."

[mercuryblues]

11. If they tried to get him re-enrolled there

Then they had to know about the death threats he made to his ex-girlfriend, the fight he got into with her next boyfriend, and bringing a knife to school. That is what got him expelled. They gave him access to guns. Because i don't buy for 1 New York second they don't know how he got the key to the safe. They told him where they kept it, incase he ever wanted his guns and they were busy or not home. Depressed and violent.

He had friends at the school until he started turning violent. It was so bad that his exGF's male friends always made sure one of them were with her at school.

But they insist the Nick they knew was a perfect angel. They kept saying the Nick they knew was...

Their son was on Dr. Phil and to me it seemed like he might have known a bit more than what he is saying.

[3Hotdogs]

2. I guess their only choice is to wait for all the judgements and then file bankruptcy.

They would probably win the individual lawsuits but not if they can't afford an attorney.

In the end, they are judgement proof -- meaning they will have no assets with which to pay the judgements if they lose.

[justgamma]

4. I applaud them

for taking him in. OTH, they knew about the gun and allowed him to keep it.

[Thunderbeast]

7. At 19, Cruz was an adult. He was not commitable.

The bar to restrict civil liberties of an adult is extremely high. Unless he had a formal commitment, conviction, or restraining order, authorities had no grounds to restrict his freedoms or access to weapons.

Angry rants, social media posts, are not nearly enough to start a commitment proceeding. Unless the threat is imminent (meaning his gun is pointed at himself or someone else RIGHT THEN, any trip to a psychiatric facility can only be voluntary.

When I hear folks talking about how law enforcement "missed the signs" and were negligent in not performing a pre-emptive arrest or commitment, I know how ignorant the people making those charges are.

The Sneads, like anyone owning firearms should have secured the weapons more carefully. But, as in most school shootings, the gun owners did not imagine that their child or a thief could find their guns.

The negligence of the Sneads is no different from the Kinkles (Thurston High), the Lanzas (Sandy Hook) or the other gun owners who assumed that their stern lectures on gun security would curb the curiosity, fascinations, obsessions, and motivations of those who wanted access to those firearms for their fantastic crimes.

[LisaL]

9. Presumably that's why they would have not been found liable in a lawsuit if they could afford a

lawyer.
Cruz was an adult and legally purchased his guns.
In that situation, I don't see holding these people liable no matter how much I disagree with their decision to allow Cruz in their home with his guns.

[lostnfound]

8. That will teach people! Don't open your doors to strangers!

Bizarre how badly our culture wants to blame “parents” and parental substitutes.
If he was a rent paying 25 year old roommate they had found on Craig’s List, would they still be getting blamed for not keeping his own guns away from him? NO.

He is a legal adult.

The society is set up to produce angry, hopeless, and violent loners.

The people who are struggling to keep their own life together are responsible for what he did with his?

Moral of the story is, “just don’t get involved”.

Yeah, that will teach them. No liability in saying “you can’t live here.”

[LisaL]

10. It might be a good idea to not let in a stranger into your home with a bunch of guns.

I am just saying...