Cruz may have never killed if society took more action on link between animal abuse and mass murdere

[G_j]

https://www.google.com/amp/www.nydailynews.com/amp/opinion/animal-abuse-scrutiny-stop-killers-nikolas-cruz-article-1.3826671


JESSICA SCOTT-REID FEB 17, 2018 12:59 PM

Following such heinous acts of violence — as most recently seen in yet another school shooting — are always questions regarding possible signs, hints that this was coming or perhaps a way it could have been stopped. Investigators will talk to those who knew the shooter, and look deeply into records of behavior and personal social media accounts, to get an idea of who he is and what was in his mind leading up to the unthinkable event. And so often what is found is a history of animal cruelty, or more importantly, a detrimental lack of attention paid to these delinquent behaviors, even despite the widely known connection between cruelty toward animals and future violence toward humans.

The FBI now admits that in the case of Nikolas Cruz, signs were missed, and at least one explicit report about his plans to kill was ignored. Even after repeated visits to the home by police, due to violent behavior and fighting with his mother, Cruz was never arrested. In 2016 he was even deemed by a therapist “no threat to anyone or himself.” But what about all those witness accounts of animal cruelty starting at age nine?

Like Texas church shooter Devin Kelley, Nikolas Cruz also had a history of hurting animals. For Kelley it was beating a dog. For Cruz it was a string of reported cruelty that included shooting squirrels and chickens with a pellet gun, trying to get a dog to attack a piglet, jamming sticks into rabbit holes and killing toads. His social media reportedly included photos of dead animals.

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[Squaredeal]

1. In Jersey, the courts take animal cruelty seriously.

As a young adult you can get five years for it, with little likelihood of parole, because of the tendency to become as violent against fellow human beings later on.