The Instagram accounts belonging to Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old who killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida, were quickly pulled from public view after the shooting Wednesday, the company confirmed.
Instagram implicitly confirming that an account with a MAGA Trump hat avatar belonged to gunman Nikolas Cruz. Asked why the account was removed, spokesperson says: pic.twitter.com/LdXb73iCj8
— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) February 15, 2018
“This is a terrible tragedy and our hearts go out to the people who have been affected,” the Facebook-owned company told The Guardian Thursday. “There is absolutely no place on our platforms for people who commit such horrendous acts. We have found and immediately deleted the shooter’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram.”
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Cruz’s classmates told The New York Times that Cruz had two Instagram accounts that were filled with pictures of weapons he owned, as well as pictures of a tortured toad and other images of animals.
One image was captioned “arsenal” and showed his collection of guns, including an AR-15-style Smith and Wesson M&P15 rifle. The picture also showed at least two shotguns.
One account, named “NikolasCruzMakarov,” appears to show Cruz wearing a red hat with President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Although claims that Cruz belonged to the anti-fascist group Antifa or spent time with the white supremacist group Republic of Florida turned out to be incorrect, the “NikolasCruzMakarov” account did belong to Cruz.
Cruz’s disturbing social media posts prompted the Florida Department of Children and Families to investigate Cruz’s life at home in September 2016. At the time, Cruz posted on Snaptchat about wanting to buy a gun following an argument with his mother, according to a state report obtained by the Sun Sentinel.
Cruz also posted on YouTube about wanting to become a “professional school shooter,” which led to a Mississippi man contacting the FBI. A person also contacted the FBI in January, and the bureau admitted it failed to investigate the tip.
“This kid exhibited every single known red flag, from killing animals to having a cache of weapons to disruptive behavior to saying he wanted to be a school shooter,” Howard Finkelstein, the Broward County public defender acting as Cruz’s attorney, told The New York Times. “If this isn’t a person who should have gotten someone’s attention, I don’t know who is. This was a multi-system failure.”
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters just hours after the shooting Wednesday that officials were combing through Cruz’s social media activity.
“We already began to dissect his websites and the things on social media that he was on and some of the things … are very, very disturbing,” Israel said.
Jim Lewis, an attorney representing the family Cruz lived with before the shooting, told CNN they were not aware of the social media posts.
“They’re not social media people. They’re parents. They’re just not that kind of folks,” Lewis said. “And he’s an adult, and they tried to help him. But did they check up on him and follow him every minute of every day? They didn’t, because they didn’t see any of the signs that would indicate that there was anything really amiss, that he was capable of something violent.”
On Feb. 14, Cruz killed 14 students and three teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Cruz, who was expelled from the school last year, has confessed. He is charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
His adoptive mother’s death in November is thought to be the breaking point for Cruz, but he had behavioral issues before. CNN reported that police were called to their home 39 times since 2010, and his classmates recalled violent statements he made in the past. He was also treated for depression.
