Nikolas Cruz: 5 Things About Accused Florida School Shooter

PARKLAND, FL — As investigators piece together a motive in the Valentine's Day mass shooting at a Florida high school, a picture of a troubled young man with a fascination of guns and turbulent family history is emerging. Nikolas Jacob Cruz, 19, accused of killing 17 people and injuring 14 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, is in custody and facing multiple charges of premeditated murder.

Cruz was taken into custody without incident. He is expected to appear in court Thursday on a bond hearing.

Here are five things to know about Cruz:

Cruz legally bought the AR-15 assault rifle used in the attack about a year ago under federal law that allows people over 18 to legally purchase long guns, police told The Associated Press. Cruz had a fascination with guns and knives, and “everything he posts [on social media] is about weapons,” Matthew Walker, 17, a junior at the high school, told ABC News. “It’s sick.” Police have said his social media posts were “very, very disturbing.”

Cruz was kicked out of Stoneman Douglas and may have been flagged as a threat. Cruz was expelled from the school last year after a fight with his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend, the Miami Herald reported. Jim Gard, a math teacher, told the newspaper he believed school officials sent out an email warning after his expulsion that said he shouldn’t be allowed on the school campus with a backpack. “There were problems with him last year threatening students, and I guess he was asked to leave campus,” Gard told the newspaper.

See Also: Florida School Shooting: 17 Dead

The FBI was alerted to a disturbing comment on a YouTube video by a user named Nikolas Cruz. The creator of the video, Mississippi bail bondsman Ben Bennight, sent a screenshot of the comment — “I'm going to be a professional school shooter” — to the FBI, and agents interviewed him again Wednesday, BuzzFeed reported. YouTube removed the comment.

After his mother, Lynda Cuz, died of pneumonia in November, Cruz went to live with a friend’s family. His father had died of a heart attack several years earlier. Cruz's family knew he had an AR-15, but required him to keep it locked in a gun cabinet, to which he had a key. Jim Lewis, a lawyer for the family who took in the brothers, told the Sun Sentinel they did not see the violence coming, but knew Cruz had been troubled.

Police made multiple calls to the Cruz home. Neighbors Malcolm and Christine Roxburgh told the Sun Sentinel that Nikolas Cruz targeted a neighbor across the street and they were scared of him. “He didn’t like the pigs and didn’t like the neighbors, so he sent his dog over to try to attack them,” Malcolm Roxburgh said. Christine Roxburgh said she once caught Cruz peeking into her windows, and the couple said that when he didn’t want to go to school, he would bang his head against a cement wall. Broward County Mayor Beam Furr told CNN that Cruz had been receiving mental health treatment, but hadn’t been to the clinic for more than a year. “It wasn’t like there wasn’t concern for him,” Furr said. “We try to keep our eyes out on those kids who aren’t connected … Most teachers try to steer them toward some kind of connections. … In this case, we didn’t find a way to connect with this kid.”

AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee