Everyone else seemed to know there were warning signs – everyone except the kind family who tried to do the right thing by taking in a young man who just lost his family.
“We had this monster living under our roof and we didn’t know,” Kimberly Snead told the Sun-Sentinel over the weekend. “We didn’t see this side of him,” she added. Her husband, James Snead, said “Everything everybody seems to know, we didn’t know. It’s as simple as that.”
The also described the moment they saw him once they found out about the shooting. Kimberly was furious, obviously, and in her anger briefly attempted to charge at him in the courthouse as he was handcuffed and wearing a hospital gown.
“Really, Nik? Really?” she reportedly yelled at him while being held back, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
Surrounded by officers, the now “monster” showed some awareness about what he’d just done.
“He said he was sorry. He apologized. He looked lost, absolutely lost. And that was the last time we saw him,” James said.
The Snead’s were just trying to do the right thing, and it seems like they weren’t privy to the information that many others were aware of. What they saw at home was a troubled young man, but only to the extent that one would expect from someone who had recently lost his parents.
The 19-year-old’s mother passed away November 1 after a bout with pneumonia, and the Snead’s son suggested allowing his friend to move in.
The Snead’s say he “followed every rule to a T” and was obedient to the rules they set forth for the home. As noted by CrimeOnline, there were weapons in the home, but the family said they practiced gun safety.
Both the Sneads knew that Cruz owned weapons, and they kept their own weapons locked in a cabinet in the home. James Snead told the newspaper that he had insisted Cruz keep his weapons locked in a safe in his room, and that Cruz was responsible for purchasing the safe himself. In addition to the AR-15, James Snead said Cruz had two additional rifles, knives, and a BB gun.
The Sneads told the newspaper that they had insisted Cruz ask for permission to use the weapons, and that he had only asked twice since he moved in in late November. They granted him permission once, but denied him permission a second time.
(h/t CrimeOnline)