CHILLING

Parkland Shooter Breaks Down in Confession Video

Nikolas Cruz is shown cursing at himself, begging for death, and beating himself over the head just hours after the Feb. 14 massacre.

Confessed Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz told detectives just hours after the Feb. 14 massacre that voices in his head had prompted him to gun down classmates at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, according to newly released footage of his confession. The video, released by Florida prosecutors on Wednesday, shows Cruz repeatedly berating himself, aiming a fake gun at his head, and at one point punching himself in the head while he sits in an interrogation room wearing a hospital gown. He told police he’d heard voices in his head urging him to “burn, kill, destroy,” and that the voices grew louder after his mother died of pneumonia months before the shooting. “The voice is in here,” he said during the police interview. “And then it’s me. It’s just regular me trying to be a good person.” The 19-year-old can also be seen in the video muttering, “Just kill me” and calling himself a “coward.” Cruz, charged with 17 counts of first-degree murder, faces the death penalty if convicted.