Florida school killer had key to gun safe his guardian didn't know about. "After Wednesday's shootings, he realized Mr. Cruz had an extra key"-Wall St. Journal

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2/19/18, "Family Who Housed Florida School Shooter Describes the Days Before the Attack," Wall St. Journal, Zolan Kanno-Youngs 

"The days before Nikolas Cruz allegedly opened fire in a high school in Parkland, Fla., were normal, said James Snead, the man who was housing the 19-year-old....

Mr. Cruz had lived with the Snead family for only a few months. Mr. Snead and his wife had invited Mr. Cruz, a friend of their son, to move in after his mother died in November.

Mr. Snead, a gun owner, said he required Mr. Cruz to follow house rules. He told Mr. Cruz that he would need his own gun safe for his firearms in order to live with the Sneads. Mr. Cruz owned “five or six guns,” as well as pellet guns, and they were all bought legally, Mr. Snead said.

“He followed [the rules] to the T,” Mr. Snead said. Mr. Snead had what he thought was the only key to the safe, he said. After Wednesday’s shootings, he realized Mr. Cruz had an extra key.

“He definitely had a key to the gun safe I didn’t know about,” Mr. Snead said.

A Broward County sheriff spokeswoman said the investigation is ongoing and declined to comment further. The public defender’s office, which is representing Mr. Cruz, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Cruz faces 17 charges of premeditated murder for the attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Since the killings, neighbors and classmates have described disturbing behavior by Mr. Cruz, including an obsession with weapons. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has said it didn’t follow up on a January tip about Mr. Cruz’s behavior. A former neighbor said she called the police two years ago after Mr. Cruz posted on social media that he wanted to shoot up a school."...









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