Jonathan Cruz, 19, is set to appear in court on Thursday for a hearing on 17 charges, Marion County Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman Peg McLeish said. Prosecutors are also pursuing a criminal gang enhancement.
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Court documents state that Cruz made statements about “purging” to a person he had been dealing drugs to.
“Just when you think you can’t experience anything more inexplicable and shocking as we frequently do, you are then confronted with circumstances that nearly leave you at a loss for words”, prosecutor Terry Curry said in a news conference Wednesday.
The Facebook page also includes a video from May 14, the day of the alleged robbery, where Cruz and another man display wads of cash before Cruz says, “Get yo money”.
A 19-year-old IN man was charged with felony murder Wednesday IN the shooting deaths of three people during a four-day crime spree that police likened to the plot of the 2013 horror movie “The Purge”.
Jonathan Cruz is facing 17 charges.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers found a man, later identified as Boyd, lying dead on the sidewalk in the 3900 block of North College Avenue.
Billy Boyd was the first to be found dead just after midnight on May 12, on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound to the head.
When she tried to get away from Cruz, he allegedly told her that he had shot others before and “Another body wouldn’t mean anything”. The body of his final victim, Jose Ruiz, was discovered by officers in the driver seat of a Pontiac vehicle, according to police.
“Better go on Face book and watch da Videos of me shootin people”, Cruz texted his girlfriend, the affidavit says. Steven Clark has also been charged in connection with the robbery.
That morning, Cruz’s mother sent him a text message to ask what he was doing.
Barger and Ricki Cline, the mother of Cruz’s 3-month-old daughter, said the people blaming Cruz for the killings are trying to protect themselves and that connections to “The Purge” have been blown out of proportion.
“Do u know they can still pull up deleted history”, his mother responded, presumably referring to police. She also said she’d seen Cruz previously with a black, .22-caliber revolver.
A Marion County judge entered a not guilty plea for Johnathan Cruz during an initial hearing Thursday on murder and other charges for the attacks starting May 12. She said Cruz had told her about shooting and robbing several people.
Evidence found on cell phones and social media accounts tied Cruz to gang-related activities. “Senseless acts of violence such as those alleged in this case are incomprehensible, but thanks to the swift actions of IMPD detectives, Prosecutor Terry Curry and witnesses willing to come forward, we are one step closer to providing answers for these victims’ families”.
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Cruz has been jailed since his May 16 arrest on felony charges from a confrontation with a teenage girl at Wendy’s two days earlier.
