Handwritten Note Of Book Titles From Nikolas Jacob Cruz

Nikolas Jacob Cruz (born September 24, 1998) is an American mass murderer who perpetrated the Parkland high school shooting, where he shot and killed 14 students and 3 staff members while injuring 17 others on February 14, 2018. In November 2022, Cruz was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the shooting, which remains one of the deadliest high school shootings in the United States.

Cruz had been known for behavioral problems since preschool, and as a teenager on social media he shared his obsessions with mass shootings and expressed racist, antisemitic, homophobic, and xenophobic views. He was a member of the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps. He legally purchased various firearms prior to the shooting. 

Cruz was born on September 24, 1998, to Brenda Norma Woodard (June 25, 1956 – August 23, 2021). His biological father's identity is unknown. The boy was put in an orphanage after his birth, and was adopted by Roger and Lynda Cruz. They were older and died before Cruz finished high school: his father Roger died at age 67 on August 11, 2004; and Lynda at age 68 on November 1, 2017. Cruz was fully orphaned three months before the shooting.  Since his mother's death, he had been living with relatives and friends.  Cruz was a member of the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps and had received multiple awards including academic achievement for "maintaining an A grade in JROTC and Bs in other subjects", according to CNN. He was also a member of his school's varsity air rifle team.  At the time of the shooting, he was enrolled in a GED program and employed at a local Dollar Tree.