Florida shooting suspect’s brother starts anti-bullying campaign

By Curt Anderson The Associated Press

7 years ago

Zachary Cruz, brother of Nikolas Cruz who’s accused of killing 17 students and staff members at the school Feb. 14, appears in court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on March 29, 2018. (Susan Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool, File)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The younger brother of the Florida school shooting suspect has launched an anti-bullying campaign, saying he witnessed mistreatment of Nikolas Cruz that may have been a key factor in the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Eighteen-year-old Zachary Cruz says the initiative will set up anti-bullying student chapters at schools across the country, create a 24-hour national telephone hotline for bullying victims to call for help and provide sustained attention to the problem. Working with him is Nexus Services, the Virginia company that provided Zachary Cruz with a job and living quarters after his own scrape with the law.

The WIN initiative — “We Isolate No One” — was unveiled Thursday at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington.

Zachary Cruz has said that he bullied his brother and that others did so as well.