Nikolas Cruz’s Brother Zachary Involuntarily Committed To Psych Ward Days After Parkland Murders

Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz and his younger half-brother Zachary Cruz have both been the subject of a combined 48 phone calls to the police between 2008 and 2017 with at least 25 of the calls allegedly being about Zachary Cruz. Many of the calls to the Broward County Sheriff’s Department were made by Lynda Cruz, the boys’ adoptive mother who died November 1 of pneumonia, says the New York Post.

Several of the calls were about Nikolas Cruz, 19, and Zachary Cruz, 18, fighting, and at least one time, Lynda Cruz accused Zachary Cruz of hitting her.

Police Responded To Calls About Zachary Cruz As Well As Nikolas Cruz Over The Years

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office is releasing information on all of the calls they have that involved responding to the Cruz home.

“In the interest of full transparency, we are making available the list of all 23 calls for service at the Cruz home. 18 involved Nikolas Cruz. None appeared arrestable under Florida law. However, two of the calls remain under internal investigation.”

The Broward County Sheriff’s Department acknowledges that the calls to the Cruz home increased in seriousness as the years went on. Lynda Cruz told the police that Nikolas and Zachary Cruz got into serious physical fights over their shared Xbox, and Nikolas Cruz got violent when she took his game system away.

EXCLUSIVE: Florida gunman is pictured burying his mother's ashes with his brother https://t.co/G2fx4HZvWF

— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) February 23, 2018

After The Parkland School Massacre, Zachary Cruz Was Involuntarily Committed Under The Baker Act

Suspected Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz and half-brother Zachary Cruz have been living in separate homes since the death of their mother Lynda Cruz, says the New York Post. Zachary Cruz, who turned 18 days after the shooting at the Parkland, Florida, high school which left 17 dead, was living in the home of Roxanne Deschamps, a longtime family friend of the Cruz brothers who took them in after their adoptive mother died of pneumonia in November.

Days after the shooting, Zachary Cruz was removed from the Deschamps home and involuntarily committed under Florida’s Baker Act, under which he can be held for up to 72 hours for a psychiatric exam. It’s unclear if he’s been released. Zachary Cruz was allowed to remain in the Deschamps home after the death of Lynda Cruz, but Nikolas Cruz was kicked out after Thanksgiving because he wanted to keep guns there.

“He bought a gun and wanted to bring it into my house.”

Younger brother of Florida high school gunman is spotted for the first time since shooting massacre https://t.co/vpmi7vzqre

— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) February 27, 2018

Roxanne Deschamps, The Caretaker For Zachary Cruz, Doesn’t Believe He Is Troubled Like Nikolas Cruz

A friend of Zachary Cruz caretaker Roxanne Deschamps says that police were wrongly told that Zachary Cruz planned to “finish what his older brother had started,” says Daily Mail. But Zachary Cruz was still held for days in a Palm Beach psychiatric hospital to gauge his mental state and assure the public that he is not a risk.

Chad Bennett, a friend of Deschamps, spoke to the press on her behalf and said that Zachary had no plans of continuing the horrific killing spree that Nikolas Cruz started. Still, Deschamps has been getting threats.

“She’s got parents of kids coming after her, threatening her to the point where she’s got to have police escorts sitting outside her house. She’s getting threats from parents of kids who were in the shooting. Don’t get me wrong, what Nikolas did was absolutely wrong and what he gets, his punishment is his punishment. I don’t condone that and that was wrong. But she’s trying to help these kids out.”

Bennett said that Nikolas Cruz was odd from the start, but Zachary Cruz is “a smart kid” who likes video games and socializing. Zachary Cruz was adopted two years after Nikolas Cruz, and the two have different biological parents.

Nikolas Cruz moved in with the Snead family after he was thrown out of the Deschamps home after Thanksgiving.