Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel described Cruz's online profiles and accounts as "very, very disturbing".[71] They contained pictures and posts of him with a variety of weapons, including long knives, a shotgun, a pistol, and a BB gun. Police said that he held "extremist" views; social media accounts that were thought to be linked to him contained anti-black and anti-Muslim slurs.[71] YouTube comments linked to him include "I wanna die Fighting[sic] killing shyt ton[sic] of people", threats against police officers and Antifa, and intent to mimic the University of Texas tower shooting.[71][81][82] In February 2017, he legally purchased an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle from a Coral Springs gun store. As in most states, in Florida, persons 18 or older can buy rifles from federally licensed dealers. Cruz passed a background check. A year later, he used this weapon to commit the mass shooting at his former school.[83][21]
Items recovered by police at the scene included gun magazines with swastikas carved in them. One student reported that Cruz had drawn a swastika and the words "I hate ******s" on his backpack.[84] CNN reported that Cruz was in a private Instagram group chat where he expressed racist, homophobic, antisemitic, and anti-immigrant (xenophobic) views. He said he wanted to kill gay people and Mexicans, and talked about keeping black people in chains. He said he hated black people "simply because they were black," and Jewish people because he believed "they wanted to destroy the world". He also referred to white women who engaged in interracial relationships as traitors.[85]