PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) - The suspect in the mass shooting at a Florida high school refused to let the district continue providing him with mental health services after he turned 18 and the superintendent of schools says federal law kept them from doing anything about it.
Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie tells the Sun Sentinel "You can't make someone do something when the law says they have the right to make that determination."
Nikolas Cruz, now 19, is accused killing 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day.
Runcie says Cruz had attended a school with programs for emotionally and disabled students, and returned to Douglas in August 2016. By November, he says the "situation had deteriorated." With the support of his mother, Cruz refused special needs services and remained at the school until February 2017.