Crime & Justice

Parkland Shooter Nikolas Cruz Registered to Vote Republican From Jail

POWERLESS

Officials say they couldn’t legally stop gunman from voting.

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Reuters / Pool

Officials say they were powerless to do anything after fury greeted the news that Parkland gunman Nikolas Cruz was allowed to register to vote from his Florida jail cell. Cruz, 20, is charged with 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Valentine’s Day. State voter-registration records show that he registered as a Republican on July 25, listing the address of the Broward County Jail as his residence. In an interview Sunday morning on Fox & Friends, Andrew Pollack, the father of Meadow Pollack, one of the 14 pupils killed in the attack, called Cruz’s registration “a dagger in my heart.” Florida law allows defendants to vote as long as they haven’t been convicted—while Cruz has confessed to the killings, he is still awaiting trial.

Read it at NBC News