'You're All Going to Die,' Cruz Laughs in Chilling Video

He discusses shooting plan, motives in 3 videos out Wednesday
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted May 31, 2018 8:05 AM CDT
'You're All Going to Die,' Cruz Laughs in Chilling Video
This image from video shows Nikolas Cruz discussing a planned mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.   (Broward County State Attorney's Office via AP)

"Hello. My name is Nik and I'm going to be the next school shooter of 2018." So begins one of three short cellphone videos recorded by Nikolas Cruz at some point before he killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14. "My goal is at least 20 people with an AR-15," Cruz says to the camera. He then laughs, "You're all going to die," before making gun sound effects. "Pew, pew, pew," he says. "Can't wait." In another clip, Cruz lays out his plan. "I'll go into the school campus, walk up the stairs … get my AR and shoot people down," the 19-year-old says, per the Miami Herald. A third video may have been recorded on the day of the shooting. "Today is the day," Cruz is heard saying. "All the kids in the school will run in fear and hide. From the wrath of my power they will know who I am."

Andrew Pollack, whose daughter was killed in the shooting, worries the videos released Wednesday as part of the discovery phase of Cruz's case will only bring the shooter more of the publicity he apparently sought. "When you see me on the news, you'll know who I am," Cruz says in one of the videos. Still, the videos indicate premeditation, necessary for a first-degree murder conviction, and show Cruz was "competent," Pollack tells CNN and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Cruz only touches on his motives in the videos. Though he professes his undying love to a girl, he describes a "meaningless" life of "seclusion and solitude" and classmates who saw him as an "idiot and a dumb ass." Though Cruz's defense attorneys have offered a guilty plea in exchange for a life sentence, Broward County prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty. (More Parkland school shooting stories.)

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