Henderson is being sued on another front, too. They also say they have no legal duty under Florida law to warn others of potential harm. The mental health system intends to argue that its psychiatrists and therapists cannot see into the future and predict how a person will behave. He turned 18 in September 2016 and shortly after stopped counseling and refused special education services through the school system. ![]() In the past, Henderson has made it clear that its staff had not had contact with Cruz for more than a year before the shooting. Joshua Walker, attorney for Henderson Behavioral Health, said he was not at liberty, under court order, to discuss details of Cruz’s services but said the mental health provider disputes Pollack’s legal claims. That turned out to be an unfortunate move, setting Cruz on a path for far less services and supervision. Henderson’s employees took part in the school district’s decision to mainstream him from Cross Creek, a specialized school for children with severe emotional and behavioral problems, to Stoneman Douglas in January 2016, Brill said. It also claims that Henderson should have taken steps to alert the police or warn others about the danger Cruz posed. Pollack’s lawsuit contends that Henderson knew that Cruz suffered from mental illness and was a threat to others but failed to properly diagnose and treat him. A fact-finding commission set up under law to review Cruz’s life also reported earlier this month that - over nine years - Cruz regularly received hundreds of hours of therapy sessions from Henderson.ĭetails of those services were presented to the commission behind closed doors. Pollack’s team, however, has had experts review them, according to documents filed in the suit.īrill told the Sun Sentinel that the records show that Cruz and his mother, Lynda, who is now deceased, had extensive contact with Henderson over many years. They are under seal and not allowed to be released publicly. Henderson Behavioral Health has turned over 735 pages of Cruz’s mental health records to Pollack. The judge also refused to let school security guard Andrew Medina escape the suit, saying claims that he acted with reckless indifference could go forward. Pollack has filed a wrongful death suit against Henderson and others for failing to act to prevent Cruz from carrying out the deadly attack.Īll sides were in Broward Circuit Court on Wednesday to deal with scheduling matters for depositions and evidence gathering. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. ![]() The YouTube comments, posted in 2017 and early 2018, displayed Cruz’s seething rage and self-pity, professing “my life sucks,” “I hate everyone” and wanting to kill “a ton of people and murder children.Accused mass murderer Nikolas Cruz not only got counseling from Henderson Behavioral Health, but staff there were deeply involved in major aspects of his life: providing input about his mother’s parenting skills, his medical care and his education, a lawyer claims.įrom the time Cruz was in middle school through late 2016, Broward County’s largest mental health services organization dealt consistently with the disturbed student, attorney David Brill told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Wednesday.īrill represents Andrew Pollack, father of one of the 17 people Cruz is charged with killing on Feb. The alarming comments on YouTube pages promising bloodshed and the dozens of online searches came in the months leading up to the massacre. ![]() Parkland mass killer Nikolas Cruz promised online he would become a “professional school shooter” and scoured the internet for information about some of the nation’s deadliest mass killings, jurors heard on Wednesday.Ĭruz’s online history is a key point for prosecutors seeking to prove Cruz acted in a premeditated and calculated fashion in storming Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in February 2018, using an AR-15 rifle to fatally shoot 14 students and three staff members. Cruz previously pleaded guilty to all 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the 2018 shootings. Nikolas Cruz is being tried in the penalty phase of his trial at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, July 27, 2022. Broward Sheriff’s Office Detective Nick Masters testifies about the internet search history for Nikolas Cruz.
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