Photo courtesy of the Miami Herald.
Summary: The first lawsuit against the Parkland shooter was filed this week.
On February 14, gunman Nikolas Cruz entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and murdered 17 students and staff members. During his minutes-long shoot-out, he also injured several others.
This week, one of his surviving victims, Anthony Borges, 15, filed the first lawsuit against Cruz and other parties who he said committed negligence, according to Buzzfeed.
Borges was shot three times in the leg and twice in the torso as he barricaded the door of his classmate to prevent the gunman Cruz from entering. Borges was taken to the hospital immediately, and he was only released two weeks ago.
Borges’ act of bravery saved 20 of his fellow students but resulted in him being severely injured. In the hospital, he underwent nine surgeries and was put in a clinically induced coma. His attorney Alex Arreaza told Buzzfeed News that Borges will experience a lifetime of rehabilitation.
Borges is suing Cruz, his foster family, his dead mother’s estate, and multiple mental health centers that treated the murderer before his rampage. Borges said that the parties failed to stop Cruz from committing the Parkland shooting, and he accused them of negligence.
“We said from the onset that we are going to sue every single person who is remotely responsible for this happening, from the ground up,” Arreaza said. “This was the perfect storm of negligence.”
Borges’ lawsuit was filed in Broward County on Tuesday, and it stated that the parties listed knew that Cruz “was a threat to others” but did nothing to stop him from moving forward with his tragic plan.
According to Buzzfeed, “Back in 2013, Cruz accrued 26 disciplinary incidents at his school and exhibited concerning, explosive behavior that prompted his mother to routinely call the police. However, the complaint notes, a counselor with Henderson Behavioral Health determined that the teenager did not need a mental health evaluation.”
“Three years later, after officers received a report that Cruz had posted on his Instagram that he planned “to shoot up the school” and that he had cut himself and was depressed, Henderson counselors told police that he “was not a risk to harm himself or anyone else” because he was getting treated for ADHD, depression, and autism, the complaint states,” Buzzfeed continued.
In Borges lawsuit, it stated that Henderson and the Jerome Golden Center for Behavioral Health and South County Mental Health Center failed to properly treat Cruz and notify the public that he was a threat.
The lawsuit charges Cruz with battery and assault. Borges’ attorney said that the young man plans to file another lawsuit against the school district and Broward County Sheriff, which also came under fire for negligence in not doing anything to stop Cruz before the shooting.
Borges is seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages. He is the first victim to file a lawsuit regarding the Parkland shooting, but he will most certainly not be the last.
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