Via The Shaderoom,
Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz is getting hoards of fan mail while in jail, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The 17-year-old, who was charged with 17 counts of murder after he stormed Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February, has been receiving sexually suggestive photographs, greeting cards, letters of encouragement, and other positive notes. Cruz’s public defender Howard Finkelstein expressed concern about the mail. “The letters shake me up because they are written by regular, everyday teenage girls from across the nation,” he told the newspaper. “That scares me. It’s perverted.”
The Sentinel obtained copies of the hundreds of letters sent to Cruz. “You’re in a tough spot, Nik, and that is something I know, because I’ve been there myself,” one person wrote. “If you need something, I can mail to you...ask. If you need to talk...I’ll listen.”
“When I saw your picture on the television, something attracted me to you,” another person, who identified themselves as a 18-year-old woman from Texas, wrote. “Your eyes are beautiful and the freckles on your face make you so handsome.”
Finkelstein said this volume of mail is uncommon. “In my 40 years as public defender, I’ve never seen this many letters to a defendant,” he explained. “Everyone now and then gets a few, but nothing like this.”
Cruz has not seen the letters himself. The Broward County Jail, where Cruz is on suicide watch, opens inmate mail and deems what is appropriate to share with him. "We read a few religious ones to him that extended wishes for his soul and to come to God, but we have not and will not read him the fan letters or share the photos of scantily-clad teenage girls," Finkelstein told the newspaper.
People have also sent Cruz money. The $800 in Cruz’s commissary is mostly from fans. The Sentinel also discovered a secret fan page for the shooter on Facebook, where members talk fondly about him. One woman asked for photos from members of the group so that she could make a collage and send it to Cruz. “I want him to see how many people love and care for him and all the beautiful faces,” she wrote.
Cruz is facing the death penalty for the mass shooting.