But his attorneys, in an emotional news conference, tried to paint a sympathetic portrait of a sad teenager who has expressed remorse for the shootings, which culminated a life that spiraled out of control in recent months.
“He is a deeply troubled child who has endured significant loss. He fell between the cracks,’’ said Gordon Weekes, executive assistant public defender.
“He is also saddened by the loss of those family members, by the loss of those children. He has expressed that.”
Cruz and his biological brother Zachary were adopted at birth by an older couple. His father died 13 years ago and his mother Lynda died from pneumonia on Nov. 1 after Cruz had tried to persuade her to seek medical help.
“He encouraged her to go to the hospital to seek treatment. That didn’t work out. That is a significant bit of trauma this young man endured in a very short period of time,” Weekes said.
Assistant public defender Melisa McNeill said Cruz has suffered from mental illness throughout his life and that it’s possible he is autistic.
“He is a broken human being. He is a broken child,’’ she said.
Right after his mother died, Cruz lived for a few weeks with a family friend at the Lantana Cascades Mobile Home Park west of Lantana. About Thanksgiving, he was taken in by the Snead family in Pompano Beach, where he had his own room.
No comments:
Post a Comment