Nikolas Cruz, 19, is charged with the premeditated murder 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, later confessing to police that he was the gunman in the shooting, according to a Broward Sheriff’s Office affidavit. But when the Snead family took Nikolas Cruz into their home last November after his mother passed away, they thought of him as one of their own. Now they’re trying to recall any warning signs they might have missed. “The Nik we knew was not the monster he turned out to be,” James Snead, whose son befriended Cruz, told NBC News. They said he was depressed after losing his mother, but no red flags ever went off about his behavior. Snead and wife, Kimberly, described Cruz as polite and “normal,” saying they set rules for the teen, which he followed. They said reports from the Florida Department of Children and Families about Cruz were never brought to their attention, and that they knew Cruz had guns and were OK with it. There was a gun safe and James Snead believed he possessed the sole key.
