Officials recommended that Nikolas Cruz, the suspect in last month’s Florida school shooting, be involuntarily committed for a mental evaluation, but the information was never acted upon, according to a report Sunday.
Cruz is accused of killing 14 students and three school employees at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Documents in the criminal case against Cruz, obtained by the Associated Press, show school officials and a sheriff’s deputy recommended in September 2016 that Cruz be involuntarily committed under Florida’s Baker Act for a mental evaluation.
The Baker Act permits a law enforcement officer to initiate an involuntary commitment of a person for a mental health examination for at least three days.
An involuntary commitment would have made it difficult for Cruz to buy a gun, such as the AR-15 rifle he used in the school shooting.
The documents obtained by AP do not say why Cruz was not committed under the Baker Act or whether he may not have qualified for other reasons.
The documents reveal Cruz had written the word “kill” in a notebook, told a classmate he wanted to buy a gun and use it, and had cut his arm because he had broken up with a girlfriend.
A high school resource officer who was also a sheriff’s deputy and two school counselors recommended Cruz be committed for a mental evaluation.
The school resource officer who advised that Cruz be committed under the Baker Act was Scot Peterson, the Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy who resigned amid accusations he failed to respond to the shooting by staying outside the building.
