The Florida high school shooting suspect had a long history of run-ins with law enforcement before he allegedly killed 17 in Wednesday's massacre, his neighbors said.
Police were called to 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz's home "dozens" of times as he was growing up, his former neighbor Rhonda Roxburgh told The Miami Herald.
Cruz now faces 17 counts of premeditated murder and was denied bond in a court hearing on Thursday.
But the Broward Sheriff's Office already "knew there was a problem" with Cruz long before he set foot in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School with his legally purchased AR-15, Roxburgh said.
Children appeared to fear Cruz and would stand far apart from him at the bus stop near their homes, she told the paper. He also used to sit on the curb alone because "no one wanted to be around him."
"That child had an extremely cold stare," Roxburgh added. "He was going to hurt somebody. I just didn't know it would be this bad."
Another neighbor, Shelby Speno, said Cruz was a "creepy" child whose behavior grew worse as he aged. He once egged her family's car and shot at her neighbor's chickens with a pellet gun, she told the Herald.
Speno said Cruz's adoptive mother, Lynda Cruz, was always "very apologetic" whenever he caused trouble.
"I think she had her hands full," Speno said.
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