Cruz researched how to ‘pretend to be a psychopath’ before killing spree.

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Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz, who gunned down 17 people at his high school last February, reportedly went online before the massacre to research how to “pretend to be a psychopath,” according to a dailybeast.com report.

“I am neurotypical. How can I pretend to be a psychopath and get diagnosed as one?” the 19-year-old allegedly wrote on question-and-answer website Quora, according to The South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

New details about the case were released in a 425-page detective’s report and suggest Cruz could have been testing some of these “crazy” tactics in the aftermath of the shooting. The report notes that he was calm at times but would flip the script and claim he was suicidal and possessed by a demon.

The report also states that during the shooting, Cruz allegedly brought along a cellphone with images of the location of vital organs so he could more effectively injure targeted victims.

When an officer caught Cruz about an hour after the shooting, he was walking down a residential street and acting “calm and rational” but he then “began to claim he was hearing voices of a demon and began to throw up,” lead Detective John Curcio’s report states. At one point he said: “Where the f— am I?” and “What happened?”

When paramedics took Cruz to the hospital, he claimed he was suicidal. Doctors found no illicit drugs or alcohol in his system and quickly determined there was “nothing medically wrong” with him and released the teen to police.

While alone in an interview room, Cruz reportedly scanned the ceiling and walls for hidden cameras, Curcio wrote, and seemed to be “playing” for the camera as the mimicked shooting himself. He even punched himself repeatedly but “not hard enough to cause any injuries,” the report said.

When questioned about certain details of his personal life, Cruz claimed he couldn’t remember. And “then in what appears to be an ‘act’ starts to hyperventilate,” Curcio’s report said. When the detective told Cruz that he didn’t believe his “crazy” act, he miraculously regained his memory.

Cruz spoke of a “demon” and sinister voices that told him to “burn, kill and destroy,” but when his brother joined him in the interview room, he was reportedly confused and asked: “What do you mean demons?”

Cruz, who faces the death penalty if convicted of the killings, has pleaded not guilty to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, where he shot 34 people, fatally shooting 17 of them.






OHH Nik you SO just screwed yourself............    But I'm waiting to see how this info effects the trial now.

I always knew Cruz wasn't actually a psychopath, someone who has anti-social personality disorder wouldn't breakdown and cry like how Cruz did infront of his brother on the Police interrogation video. Funny how he said he's neurotypical, considering that he isn't as he has autism.

If he actually was a "psychopath" he would not cry and hyperventilate in the aftermath , rather be calm and emotionless or maybe even laugh about the incident.

I think people are getting confused here because I'm almost certain that Nick meant "schizophrenic" not "psychopath", and had gotten the two terms mixed up. Why else would he talk about hearing voices?

aramuhk wrote:

If he actually was a "psychopath" he would not cry and hyperventilate in the aftermath , rather be calm and emotionless or maybe even laugh about the incident.

I think he might've been faking his remorse. In the immediate aftermath of the attack he was calm and asking for a ride home. It was only when he got arrested that he started showing emotions about it.

QuestionMark wrote:

I think people are getting confused here because I'm almost certain that Nick meant "schizophrenic" not "psychopath", and had gotten the two terms mixed up. Why else would he talk about hearing voices?

Because he has schizophrenia, it's clearly obvious that he does.

QuestionMark wrote:

aramuhk wrote:

If he actually was a "psychopath" he would not cry and hyperventilate in the aftermath , rather be calm and emotionless or maybe even laugh about the incident.

I think he might've been faking his remorse. In the immediate aftermath of the attack he was calm and asking for a ride home. It was only when he got arrested that he started showing emotions about it.

Faking remorse doesn't make him a psychopath.

Tommy QTR wrote:

QuestionMark wrote:

I think people are getting confused here because I'm almost certain that Nick meant "schizophrenic" not "psychopath", and had gotten the two terms mixed up. Why else would he talk about hearing voices?

Because he has schizophrenia, it's clearly obvious that he does.

I think he's faking being a schizophrenic. If he was really a schizophrenic then IMO it doesn't make sense for him to look up how to be a psychopath when he's already been acting like one his whole life. Now if he got his terms confused and mixed up "psychopath" with "schizophrenic", then I think things start falling into place better.

Granted a doctor would better be able to figure out if he's lying or not.

QuestionMark wrote:

Tommy QTR wrote:

QuestionMark wrote:

I think people are getting confused here because I'm almost certain that Nick meant "schizophrenic" not "psychopath", and had gotten the two terms mixed up. Why else would he talk about hearing voices?

Because he has schizophrenia, it's clearly obvious that he does.

I think he's faking being a schizophrenic. If he was really a schizophrenic then IMO it doesn't make sense for him to look up how to be a psychopath when he's already been acting like one his whole life. Now if he got his terms confused and mixed up "psychopath" with "schizophrenic", then I think things start falling into place better.

Granted a doctor would better be able to figure out if he's lying or not.

Well it makes more sense for him to have schizophrenia then him being a psychopath. A person with Anti-Social Personality Disorder has little to no emotion, while Cruz was full of it, although it being mainly sadness and anger (same can be said about E&D). Also a psychopath cannot have depression or autism, and Cruz had both.

i still think he could get the death penalty?
Would it have been an advantage for him to have become an hero on the day?

Tommy QTR wrote:

QuestionMark wrote:

Tommy QTR wrote:

QuestionMark wrote:

I think people are getting confused here because I'm almost certain that Nick meant "schizophrenic" not "psychopath", and had gotten the two terms mixed up. Why else would he talk about hearing voices?

Because he has schizophrenia, it's clearly obvious that he does.

I think he's faking being a schizophrenic. If he was really a schizophrenic then IMO it doesn't make sense for him to look up how to be a psychopath when he's already been acting like one his whole life. Now if he got his terms confused and mixed up "psychopath" with "schizophrenic", then I think things start falling into place better.

Granted a doctor would better be able to figure out if he's lying or not.

Well it makes more sense for him to have schizophrenia then him being a psychopath. A person with Anti-Social Personality Disorder has little to no emotion, while Cruz was full of it, although it being mainly sadness and anger (same can be said about E&D). Also a psychopath cannot have depression or autism, and Cruz had both.

Well that I can't quite comment on because I've heard conflicting criteria for what a psychopath is and can or cannot do. I don't think even the experts are fully sure.

I will say it's possible that the councilors or therapists had given Cruz a misdiagnosis when they said he had autism, but I have no clue what information they were working with or their reasoning for giving the diagnosis.

[quote="QuestionMark"][quote="QuestionMark"][quote="Tommy QTR"]

QuestionMark wrote:

I think people are getting confused here because I'm almost certain that Nick meant "schizophrenic" not "psychopath", and had gotten the two terms mixed up. Why else would he talk about hearing voices?
Because he has schizophrenia, it's clearly obvious that he does.

I think he's faking being a schizophrenic. If he was really a schizophrenic then IMO it doesn't make sense for him to look up how to be a psychopath when he's already been acting like one his whole life. Now if he got his terms confused and mixed up "psychopath" with "schizophrenic", then I think things start falling into place better.

Granted a doctor would better be able to figure out if he's lying or not.
Well it makes more sense for him to have schizophrenia then him being a psychopath. A person with Anti-Social Personality Disorder has little to no emotion, while Cruz was full of it, although it being mainly sadness and anger (same can be said about E&D). Also a psychopath cannot have depression or autism, and Cruz had both.

Well that I can't quite comment on because I've heard conflicting criteria for what a psychopath is and can or cannot do. I don't think even the experts are fully sure.

I will say it's possible that the councilors or therapists had given Cruz a misdiagnosis when they said he had autism, but I have no clue what information they were working with or their reasoning for giving the diagnosis.

I agree with question mark. Nick is very obviously in my opinion a psychopath. And I’m pretty sure that psychopaths can be autistic. I think he confused the term “psychopath” with just crazy in general.

I guess by this logic any shooter can be a psychopath, since we're using the proper definition of one.

I guess he wanted to scare people and ever since psychopaths have this certain stigma... He might have desired respect. That's only an assumption.

"When an officer caught Cruz about an hour after the shooting, he was walking down a residential street and acting “calm and rational” but he then “began to claim he was hearing voices of a demon and began to throw up,” lead Detective John Curcio’s report states. At one point he said: “Where the f— am I?” and “What happened?”

This is strange. There is video footage of him being arrested while face down in the grass and he is totally unconscious.

I don't buy the official statement... it doesn't match his actual arrest that is on video... hmmm he may have said those things and thrown up, but it sounds like the officer approached him and had that exchange immediately, but that's not what we see in the video of his arrest where he is definitely unconscious and a limp noodle.

Weird.

EthanEmerson wrote:

"When an officer caught Cruz about an hour after the shooting, he was walking down a residential street and acting “calm and rational” but he then “began to claim he was hearing voices of a demon and began to throw up,” lead Detective John Curcio’s report states. At one point he said: “Where the f— am I?” and “What happened?”

This is strange. There is video footage of him being arrested while face down in the grass and he is totally unconscious.

I don't buy the official statement... it doesn't match his actual arrest that is on video... hmmm he may have said those things and thrown up, but it sounds like the officer approached him and had that exchange immediately, but that's not what we see in the video of his arrest where he is definitely unconscious and a limp noodle.

Weird.

I think the article might be conflating the report of Cruz's initial arrest with his actions while in custody? I haven't heard any other news source claim he started talking about "the demon" until after the police took him to the station and began interviewing him.

That makes the most sense and is most likely!

Sounds to me like he was planning to plead not guilty by reason of insanity. Thankfully no one bought his little act.

Guest wrote:

The report also states that during the shooting, Cruz allegedly brought along a cellphone with images of the location of vital organs so he could more effectively injure targeted victims.

Huh, I've read this article before but I never noticed this part until now. Pretty crazy stuff if that's the case

I thought it was funny as hell in the police interview when the homicide detective revealed that he thought Nikolas was bullshitting his "demon" story and then Nikolas starts pretending to freak out and have hallucinations. It's so obvious that he's full of shit and the detective saw right through it.
When he asked to see an attorney, the detective said something like "well do YOU want the attorney or does the demon want the attorney? Does the demon know an attorney?"

Clogerhead wrote:

I thought it was funny as hell in the police interview when the homicide detective revealed that he thought Nikolas was bullshitting his "demon" story and then Nikolas starts pretending to freak out and have hallucinations. It's so obvious that he's full of shit and the detective saw right through it.
When he asked to see an attorney, the detective said something like "well do YOU want the attorney or does the demon want the attorney? Does the demon know an attorney?"

Yeah Nikolas was clearly faking the whole thing. He’s a really bad actor.

When you see him look up at the cameras, I can almost hear him thinking “it’s my time to act crazy now”