Parkland killer’s life or death, Day 45: Former neighbor shares strange story in court

Editor’s note: Daily coverage of the Parkland trial is being provided to all readers as a public service.

Here are updates from Day 45 in the sentencing trial of confessed Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz, 23; a jury will decide if he will be executed or sentenced to life in prison without parole. He pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

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  • Strange story: Former neighbor Steven Schusler testified that Nikolas Cruz didn’t fit in with other kids. Schusler described an incident in which he saw Cruz running outside his home, holding an airsoft rifle that fired plastic pellets. Schusler tried to demonstrate Cruz’s running style, which he compared to that of a toddler trying to keep his balance while learning to run. The courtroom demonstration drew a chuckle from Cruz.

Steven Schusler demonstrates in court how Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz ran down the street in an uncoordinated fashion with what Schusler alternately described as “an Airsoft gun” or “an air rifle” during an incident in front of their Parkland homes in Cruz’s adolescence. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

  • Mom was in over her head: Psychologist Frederick Kravitz portrayed the shooter’s mother Lynda Cruz as a woman who simply could not keep up with the demands of being a single mom to her two sons, Nikolas and Zachary. Under cross examination, Kravitz said: “I’ve worked with some other very damaged kids and certainly, to the best of my knowledge, none of them have ever acted out like” Cruz did in Parkland.
  • Quote of the day: “There was never any sense of normalcy. You could always see there was something just not right,” former neighbor Steven Schusler said about Cruz in his younger years.
  • Looking ahead: Testimony resumes Thursday morning.

Go to SunSentinel.com/parkland-shooting for complete coverage of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School tragedy and ongoing coverage of the sentencing trial.