State investigated after school shooting suspect cut himself

[mystery-ak]

PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s child welfare agency investigated the suspect in a school shooting that killed 17 people after he cut himself in a video but found him stable, according to state records.


By JASON DEAREN, ALLEN BREED and TAMARA LUSH
38 minutes ago


The Miami Herald obtained records from Florida’s Department of Children and Families and reported Saturday that Nikolas Cruz posted a video on the social media network Snapchat showing him cutting his arms in 2016.

The agency was called to investigate. Cruz, then 18, was listed as an “alleged victim” of medical neglect and inadequate supervision; his adoptive mother, then-68-year-old Lynda Cruz, the “alleged perpetrator.”

“Mr. Cruz was on Snapchat cutting both of his arms,” the Florida DCF abuse hotline was told in August 2016. “Mr. Cruz has fresh cuts on both his arms. Mr. Cruz stated he plans to go out and buy a gun.”

more
https://apnews.com/8a882b800c2f4d16944b735cf5c3219f/State-investigated-after-school-shooting-suspect-cut-himself

[truth_seeker]

Obviously the lad should have been locked up permanently.

[Victoria33]

@mystery-ak
People need to get over 'normalcy bias" which is thinking "it can't happen here", or "it has never happened here so it won't."

I was made aware of this when the two terrorists tried to get in a building and kill people in Garland, Texas, which is not many miles from my house.  That did it for me - it can happen here, in my church or anywhere else people gather.

In fact, yesterday, at the high school here in Lewisville, blocks from this house, a high school student arrived at school with a gun and cartridges on his person.  They managed to get him, but it took the principal "hours" to send emails to the teachers in their classroom.  They didn't know anything was going on.  They were not prepared to lock doors, or anything since they got no message about it.

[dfwgator]

Obviously the lad should have been locked up permanently.

"Well, he's just an excitable boy"


RIP Warren

[mystery-ak]

@mystery-ak
People need to get over 'normalcy bias" which is thinking "it can't happen here", or "it has never happened here so it won't."

I was made aware of this when the two terrorists tried to get in a building and kill people in Garland, Texas, which is not many miles from my house.  That did it for me - it can happen here, in my church or anywhere else people gather.

In fact, yesterday, at the high school here in Lewisville, blocks from this house, a high school student arrived at school with a gun and cartridges on his person.  They managed to get him, but it took the principal "hours" to send emails to the teachers in their classroom.  They didn't know anything was going on.  They were not prepared to lock doors, or anything since they got no message about it.

I walked right in my grandson's school last week..the door wasn't locked...not buzzed in 

I ask him last night what procedures are in place for an incident like this....he said all outside doors are supposed to be locked at 8am and unlocked at 3pm. If an intruder gets in to lock the classroom door and cover the glass window with a black curtain...turn off lights, hide behind desks and be quite......I told him that Cruz shot out the door windows to get into the classroom...

[LauraTXNM]

Obviously the lad should have been locked up permanently.

Really really hard to get that accomplished.  Not enough homes, not enough beds, etc., etc.  It's legally hard to take someone's freedom away.  Do we want to allocate the resources?  Do we want to rewrite laws?

[Victoria33]

I walked right in my grandson's school last week..the door wasn't locked...not buzzed in    I ask him last night what procedures are in place for an incident like this....he said all outside doors are supposed to be locked at 8am and unlocked at 3pm. If an intruder gets in to lock the classroom door and cover the glass window with a black curtain...turn off lights, hide behind desks and be quite......I told him that Cruz shot out the door windows to get into the classroom...

@mystery-ak

NO. 1:  REPLACE ALL CLASSROOM DOORS WITH STRONG SOLID DOORS WITH DEAD BOLTS.

Story when I lived by myself:
I had a paper target from when I shot at an indoor gun range, with the bullet holes near or on the target, and attached it to the outside of my bedroom door and I locked the door at night.  Anyone wanting in that room would be in front of that target looking at it before he would try to open the door.  I think a bad guy would think twice, and leave, not try to kick that door in.

[LauraTXNM]

@mystery-ak
People need to get over 'normalcy bias" which is thinking "it can't happen here", or "it has never happened here so it won't."

I was made aware of this when the two terrorists tried to get in a building and kill people in Garland, Texas, which is not many miles from my house.  That did it for me - it can happen here, in my church or anywhere else people gather.

In fact, yesterday, at the high school here in Lewisville, blocks from this house, a high school student arrived at school with a gun and cartridges on his person.  They managed to get him, but it took the principal "hours" to send emails to the teachers in their classroom.  They didn't know anything was going on.  They were not prepared to lock doors, or anything since they got no message about it.

How scary.  A side note -- I'm surprised there are still schools that don't have automatically locking doors, public or private.

[dfwgator]

 
"Only a lad. He really couldn't help it."
"Only a lad. He didn't want to do it."
"Only a lad. He's underprivileged and abused."
Perhaps a little bit confused?
Oh oh oh, ohh ohh ohh
It's not his fault that he can't believe,
It's not his fault that he can't behave,
Society made him go astray.
Perhaps if we're nice he'll go away,
Perhaps he'll go away,
He'll go away
"Only a lad. You really can't blame him."
"Only a lad. Society made him."
"Only a lad. He's our responsibility."

! No longer available
 

[truth_seeker]

Really really hard to get that accomplished.  Not enough homes, not enough beds, etc., etc.  It's legally hard to take someone's freedom away.  Do we want to allocate the resources?  Do we want to rewrite laws?

My conclusion is this: We have been operating on a default, of giving the patient the benefit of doubt; e.g. taking the risk it will be okay for them to retain their freedom.

But we need to revise that and place the safety of others ahead, of his "freedom." Mental health "experts" are wrong, too often. And their "professional" bias favors the patient.

[Gefn]

@Victoria33

Cutting is in the DSM - and my understanding is it can be something to put someone in under a 72 hour hold.

I know a cutter who accidentally died. She cut too deep. 24 years old. Sweet girl but really into self harming things, anorexia, cutting, trichtillomania...

Oh she was also bipolar 2

[LauraTXNM]

@Victoria33

Cutting is in the DSM - and my understanding is it can be something to put someone in under a 72 hour hold.

I know a cutter who accidentally died. She cut too deep. 24 years old. Sweet girl but really into self harming things, anorexia, cutting, trichtillomania...

Oh she was also bipolar 2

Poor girl!

I wonder how many of this guy's problems were (inaccurately?) linked to or excused by the autism diagnosis.  If I had an autistic child, I'd be very concerned about the repercussions of this guy's actions on the autism community.  Autistic people are very very seldom violent, but I can imagine this causing a backlash.   

Wasn't there a recent thread about the cops called to investigate a messy-haired child at a park?

We need to get a lot better educated and informed about mental illness and intellectual differences/disabilities, FAST.

[Gefn]

There's a wide range with autism. Aspergers isn't as bad - supposedly Bill Gates has that. It depends where you are on the scale.

You are right about education. We need it and fast. Add more counseling in schools. Today's kids have more problems, well, different ones than we did growing up.

[LauraTXNM]

There's a wide range with autism. Aspergers isn't as bad - supposedly Bill Gates has that. It depends where you are on the scale.

You are right about education. We need it and fast. Add more counseling in schools. Today's kids have more problems, well, different ones than we did growing up.

Definitely agree with everything you said!  My special ed teacher friend now works in Los Gatos  (Silicon Valley) with mainly autistic kids, and they run the gamut from non-verbal and wearing diapers to literate and advanced in math.  AND THIS IS ALL IN ONE CLASSROOM, GRADES K-3, IN A WEALTHY SCHOOL DISTRICT.  It's not being handled well at any level, I think.

And my husband is a big data software analyst person, so we know many people "on the spectrum" -- the tech world couldn't operate without them ;).  There is no doubt in my mind that "neuro-atypicality" exists.  Sometimes some medication or behavioral mods might help with specific symptoms.  But it's often just a matter of embracing the difference.

[truth_seeker]

Do we have more of these mental defectives now, or did we used to keep them in confinement, and therefore out of sight ?

Mainstreaming is an experiment, and with Nik Cruz, a very deadly experiment.

[TomSea]

@Victoria33

Cutting is in the DSM - and my understanding is it can be something to put someone in under a 72 hour hold.

I know a cutter who accidentally died. She cut too deep. 24 years old. Sweet girl but really into self harming things, anorexia, cutting, trichtillomania...

Oh she was also bipolar 2

There was a law and order episode where they called the girl a cutter, I didn't even understand what that meant.  I'm still not understanding what people are talking about. Maybe this:

"A person who cuts themselves to relieve emotional pain"

[LauraTXNM]

There's a wide range with autism. Aspergers isn't as bad - supposedly Bill Gates has that. It depends where you are on the scale.

P.S. Bill Gates is definitely "neuro-atypical", like many other of his cohorts.  Asperger's is the "easy" diagnosis right now, because people have some sense of it (thank you, "Big Bang Theory"!) and it's not quite so stigmatized.  I think this happened a while ago with ADHD -- it becomes simpler to label each kid this way and get services than trying to run an individual neuro-psych evaluation on each child. ;(

[TomSea]

There was a young man in our hometown with "mental issues" let's say; but they always said "don't worry, there is no danger", and truly, nothing bad ever happened with him. Sometimes, when people start talking about mental health, they have fears that all and any with these problems may end up suffering from laws. I don't know enough about it to judge it. If there are people who would never pose a problem for the rest of society? I would think that such people would exist.  Then, you start mixing medicines in, it can be, I'm sure, complex.

[Right_in_Virginia]

There's a wide range with autism. Aspergers isn't as bad - supposedly Bill Gates has that. It depends where you are on the scale.

You are right about education. We need it and fast. Add more counseling in schools. Today's kids have more problems, well, different ones than we did growing up.

Adding more counselors to schools will only exacerbate the problems we face --- unless they are better educated, better trained, given the authority to take action and held accoutable. 

We don't need more school personnel helping a troubled/mentally ill student feel good about himself or herself or chastising students for not being more tolerant of anti-social behavior.

[LauraTXNM]

@mystery-ak

NO. 1:  REPLACE ALL CLASSROOM DOORS WITH STRONG SOLID DOORS WITH DEAD BOLTS.

Story when I lived by myself:
I had a paper target from when I shot at an indoor gun range, with the bullet holes near or on the target, and attached it to the outside of my bedroom door and I locked the door at night.  Anyone wanting in that room would be in front of that target looking at it before he would try to open the door.  I think a bad guy would think twice, and leave, not try to kick that door in.

That's awesome ;) !

[LauraTXNM]

There was a law and order episode where they called the girl a cutter, I didn't even understand what that meant.  I'm still not understanding what people are talking about. Maybe this:

"A person who cuts themselves to relieve emotional pain"

TomSea, yes, that's it.  Have you ever known someone who picked at the skin around their fingernails?  It's a "nervous habit", linked to anxiety, and though it sounds extreme, it's a form of self-harm.  Cutting is much further down the line, but it is a self-harm coping mechanism

[LauraTXNM]

Do we have more of these mental defectives now, or did we used to keep them in confinement, and therefore out of sight ?

Mainstreaming is an experiment, and with Nik Cruz, a very deadly experiment.

I think we've always had people who were "quirky" -- the lucky ones who could function in society got into math, sciences, computer programming.  I don't know if there are more people now -- folks in Silicon Valley certainly have been spending enough money looking for environmental or dietary causes, etc.

My son is reading _To Kill a Mockingbird_, and I keep thinking about Boo Radley.  Wasn't it the conventional wisdom that every small town had an outcast/weirdo/simpleton?

[truth_seeker]

Adding more counselors to schools will only exacerbate the problems we face --- unless they are better educated, better trained, given the authority to take action and held accoutable. 

We don't need more school personnel helping a troubled/mentally ill student feel good about himself or herself or chastising students for not being more tolerant of anti-social behavior.

I am several steps further. We should NOT be placing risky people in our schools, period.

If they want to practice experimental "mental health" science, do it with the dangerous ones in confinement.

That way,, when the "profession expert" makes errors, nobody get killed or harmed.

NO MO MAINSTREAMING.

[LauraTXNM]

Adding more counselors to schools will only exacerbate the problems we face --- unless they are better educated, better trained, given the authority to take action and held accoutable. 

We don't need more school personnel helping a troubled/mentally ill student feel good about himself or herself or chastising students for not being more tolerant of anti-social behavior.

Good counselors are working to "socialize" the functional kids so they can participate in society; my Special Day Class (SDC) friend spends some time on "life skills", and I know that continues through high school.  But I know that won't work for more severe children.

[LauraTXNM]

Adding more counselors to schools will only exacerbate the problems we face --- unless they are better educated, better trained, given the authority to take action and held accoutable. 

We don't need more school personnel helping a troubled/mentally ill student feel good about himself or herself or chastising students for not being more tolerant of anti-social behavior.

BTW I agree with you -- I'm not talking mainly about "talk therapist" psychologists, but rather special ed guidance instructors/teachers.