PARKLAND, Fla. _ Some students say they think it's frightening that Zachary Cruz, the brother of the shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, allegedly trespassed on the school campus more than a month after massacre.
Zachary, 18, told deputies he visited the school Monday "to reflect on the school shooting and to soak it in," according to the arrest report. He had been warned by school officials to keep away from the campus.
Zachary, who was jailed on a bond of only $25, is expected to make his first court appearance Tuesday afternoon. Students had different reactions about his arrest.
"That's crazy," said Josef Bagiv, 16, a junior. "Just weird."
Conner Gandy, 17, a senior, said Zachary should have at least warned people before he showed up. Zachary's showing up "frightens everyone," knowing how depressed he might be, he said.
"It's weird and suspicious, but I don't think he would do anything," he said.
John Mansfield, 17, a junior, said perhaps Zachary was trying to make sense of the tragedy. "I think he's trying to understand like everyone else," he said.
Zachary is the brother of Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old man who has admitted killing 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The Broward Sheriff's Office said Zachary rode his skateboard at 4:30 p.m. across the campus where Nikolas Cruz went on a shooting spree with an AR-15 rifle.
Zachary "surpassed all locked doors and gates" to get onto the campus, the arrest report said. It was after school hours. The school day ends at 2:40 p.m.
Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie said the school's gates are opened after hours so students can go in and out for after-school activities. During school hours the gates are locked, Runcie said.
"It wasn't some breach of security," Runcie told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Monday.
The younger Cruz spent less than 10 minutes on the campus after entering the north gate on Holmberg Road, the same gate his brother entered on the day of the shooting, and exiting at a gate near the front entrance on Pine Island Road, Runcie said.
"It's kind of odd, and I understand it does creep people out," Runcie said.
A staff member recognized Zachary Cruz and immediately called the Sheriff's Office, he said.
"It's noteworthy they were able to identify him immediately," Runcie said.
Early Tuesday, a helicopter from the Broward Sheriff's Office was circling above Stoneman Douglas as students were preparing for the school day.
Nowadays at the school, the gate at the bus loop on Pine Island Road is closed to pedestrians and walkers have to enter through the main gate.
An unmarked Broward Sheriff's Office car parked in front of the median on Pine Island has been a new addition to the school's new normal since it reopened after the shooting.
Nikolas Cruz faces the death penalty for the murder of 17 and the attempted murder of 17 others.
Zachary Cruz has been living with a family friend, Rocxanne Deschamps, in Lantana since the death of his mother in November.
"I don't want to be alive. I don't want to deal with this stuff," Zachary Cruz told Deschamps on the night of the shooting, according to a report from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
Two days after the shooting Zachary Cruz told a deputy that he felt "somewhat responsible and guilty about the incident and that he could have possibly prevented (it)," that report said. He also told the deputy that he "doesn't understand why his brother would have done this."
