Confessed Parkland, Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz is being showered with fan mail and donations.
According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Broward County Jail has received dozens of letters from teenage girls, women, and older men for Cruz, who is accused of murdering 17 people when he opened fire inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day. Mixed in with the letters are photographs – some suggestive – that are “tucked inside cute greeting cards and attached to notebook paper.”
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“There’s piles of letters,” said Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein. “In my 40 years as public defender, I’ve never seen this many letters to a defendant. Everyone now and then gets a few, but nothing like this.”
Among the dozens of letters is one from a teenage girl from Texas.
“I’m 18-years-old. I’m a senior in high school. When I saw your picture on the television, something attracted me to you. Your eyes are beautiful and the freckles on your face make you so handsome,” reads the letter that is tucked inside an envelope with hand drawn hearts and happy faces. “I’m really skinny and have 34C sized breasts.”
Another letter sent from a woman in Chicago includes nine suggestive photos, including a shot of cleavage, another in a skimpy bikini eating a Popsicle and a tight shot of her backside as she bent over.
Although Cruz is recieiving dozens of letters, he has not yet been permitted to see the mail because he is on suicide watch.
“We read a few religious ones to him that extended wishes for his soul and to come to God,” Finkelstein said, “but we have not and will not read him the fan letters or share the photos of scantily-clad teenage girls.”
Along with the letters, fans have also been sending money to Cruz’s commissary account, which can be used to purchase snacks, personal hygiene products, radios, and coffee. Currently, he has $800 deposited into the account, with $630 of that being deposited between Feb. 15 and March 5.
Cruz, 19, has been held without bail in Broward County Jail since Feb. 14. He carried an AR-15 assault rifle into his former high school on Valentine’s Day. He has been charged with a 34-count indictment — 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, for the people he wounded.
On March 13, prosecutors filed papers signifying their intent to pursue the death penalty against the confessed shooter. Previously, Cruz’s attorneys had hoped to strike a plea deal exempting the 19-year-old from capital punishment.
The following day, Cruz stood mute at his arraignment, refusing to enter a plea. Judge Elizabeth Scherer entered a plea of “not guilty” on his behalf. He was arraigned on the same day that students across the country walked out of class in solidarity with the survivors from Stoneman Douglas High, calling for action on gun laws. Cruz is due back in court on Friday, April 27.
