A newly released transcript shows Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz told detectives he bought the gun used in the Parkland attack a year or two earlier because he was afraid of demons and voices in his head. Prosecutors released a redacted transcript of Cruz's post-shooting statement Monday afternoon. Cruz made the 12-hour statement to Broward sheriff's Detective John Curcio shortly after the Feb. 14 shooting that killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and left 17 others injured. Cruz told Curcio the voice began years ago when his father died and got worse when his mother died last fall. Cruz said the voice would tell him to burn, kill and destroy. Cruz said he would set fires in a pit and kill wild birds. Cruz said the voice had told him to hurt people the day before the shooting.
Per the AP, the statement reveals Cruz also told Curcio that he used a lot of drugs, including marijuana and anti-anxiety pills. Cruz said during the interrogation that he took nearly an entire bottle of ibuprofen in an attempted suicide, but he threw up when his heart and stomach began to hurt. He said he also tried to drink himself to death several years ago with vodka, tequila and wine. He told Curcio he was depressed and lonely. Cruz also spat out "kill me" and then cursed as he sat alone in a sheriff's interrogation room just hours after the massacre. The statement was released to the AP and other media under Florida's broad public record laws. Cruz's attorneys had wanted it suppressed, saying its disclosure could hinder his right to a fair trial. (More Nikolas Cruz stories.)
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