FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — For the first time since his arrest, convicted Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz is no longer in Broward Sheriff's Office custody.
Cruz was transferred to the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections on Friday morning, BSO spokesman Carey Codd told WPTV.
The 24-year-old mass murdered had been in BSO custody at the county jail since his arrest on Valentine's Day in 2018, when he killed 14 students and three faculty members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where he had previously been a student.
Cruz will initially be housed at one of four male reception centers in the state to be processed, tested and evaluated by health services before receiving a prison assignment.
Despite the wishes of his victims' family members, Cruz was formally sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday. Judge Elizabeth Scherer had no choice but to impose the life sentence after a jury couldn't unanimously agree that he be executed for his crimes.
Cruz will likely be sent to one of the state's 60 correctional facilities for inmates who must be maintained within an armed perimeter or under direct, armed supervision when outside of a secure perimeter.
