April 18, 2025 • 22 mins
Today Nancy Grace and Sheryl McCollum discuss the recent mass shooting at Florida State University, digging into the motive, the method, and the impact. They dissect the systemic failures, the overlooked warning signs, and the questions you should be asking.
Show Notes:
- (0:00) Welcome! Nancy and Sheryl introduce this week’s crime roundup
- (0:10) Sherly and Nancy dedicate CRU to the recent FSU shooting
- (1:00) Two people dead, six injured
- (1:30) When the unthinkable repeats
- (4:30) Shooter used sheriff deputy mom’s weapon
- (4:45) “Had to be a swipe at his mom” -Nancy Grace
- (6:30) Ripple effect mass shootings have
- (10:00) Intentionality around the time of shooting
- (17:00) “I don't know the answer, but asking why and trying to figure out what was going on in his mind is like going in your crazy aunt's attic and trying to make sense of it.” -Nancy Grace
- (20:00) Support goes out to victims families
- (20:30) The power of prayer
---
Nancy Grace is an outspoken, tireless advocate for victims’ rights and one of television's most respected legal analysts. Nancy Grace had a perfect conviction record during her decade as a prosecutor. She is the founder and publisher of CrimeOnline.com, a crime- fighting digital platform that investigates breaking crime news, spreads awareness of missing people and shines a light on cold cases.
In addition, Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, a daily show hosted by Grace, airs on SIRIUS XM’s Triumph Channel 111 and is downloadable as a podcast on all audio platforms - https://www.crimeonline.com/
Connect with Nancy:
X: @nancygrace
Instagram: @thenancygrace
Facebook: @nancygrace
Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an Emmy Award winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnLine, Forensic and Crime Scene Expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, and a CSI for a metro Atlanta Police Department. She is the co-author of the textbook., Cold Case: Pathways to Justice.
Connect with Sheryl:
Email: coldcase2004@gmail.com
Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to the crime round up. Oh it is a
beautiful day and it landin eights grace, It really is,
and it's.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good, Artie. And I'm just right now thinking about what
Florida has been through again. I mean, you know, it
just seems to me like we do the same thing
over and over and over again. And from what I understand,
victims are fighting for their lives in a hospital right now.
(00:41):
You know, they go it hit me Ryl when Keith
was murdered, my fiancee, And I use that basically, as
you know, my north star. When I analyze cases, always
fron behalf of the crime victim. You start your day normally,
you think, well, you know, think everything's fine. You're too
(01:02):
dumb to think it's not fine. You just go about
your business and then suddenly the next thing you know,
your life is completely ripped apart. And that's the same
thing that's happened to these families. Two people did as
of this moment, unless it's gone up in the last
hour and I don't know about it. And six injured
(01:23):
and I don't mean just injured, I mean finding for
their lives. I mean people stay in the hospital hallways,
praying in the waiting rooms, just prayer chains, chasing doctors
down the hall, the whole shebbat again. And sometimes Cheryl,
when I'm working a case, investigating a case, it's not
(01:45):
just the pain of that case. And what I think
the families are going through is the fact that hey,
we just did this, we just did this, and it's
happening again.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
And Nancy, you know, I'm often reminded when I were
with Tupac's mom. Do you know she repeatedly would ask
She cared more about the why than the who. She
just could not, in her mind understand why why would
(02:18):
you kill him? And I think every single time, especially
when there's a mass why these soft targets. These kids
just want to go to class, They just want to
go to a frat party, They just want to be together,
they just want to go to ballgames. I mean, this
is literally one of the most significant times of their life.
(02:43):
I mean, Taliessie is such a fantasistic place that college
does remarkable things with incredible people, and then this, And
there is no whyle. There is no reason, and I've
heard you say it, there is There's no reason that
I would ever be able to accept where I can
(03:05):
go oh, I see that. I understand why this happened.
I understand why you would walk into a college area
with your mom's service weapon and just start shooting people
you don't know. Well, that's a whole.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Another layer right there. Cheryl McCollums. I remember, and I
won't say his name. You know him well. He was
a great great he's turned off as a motorman, as
they called himselves, the motorcycle cop. I remember when he
was run over and dragged along the asphalt. I was
in the hospital forever because he was out, you know,
(03:39):
by the side of the road as a motorman and
went on to climb up the ranks of APD. And
then I remember when he was going to law school
at night to become a lawyer. I remember one of
the worst things that ever happened to him, according to him,
came his perspective was his near do well brother got
(04:02):
a hold of a service weapon and shot the gun.
I can't say any more of that identifying, but no
other person was hurt. You would think that it was
the end. And that was when I found out how
serious it is for you not to have control of
your weapon, not to know weapon where it is, who
(04:23):
has it now. I think this through with me, Cheryl.
He the year had to know that about his mom.
Right when a when LA loses their weapon or somebody
takes their weapon, that's like a serious, serious infraction for
the law enforcement officer's right and in some way getting
(04:47):
that weapon, I'm telling you, with some kind of swipe
at his mom does that. I'm not explaining why he
did what.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
No, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I'm just telling you that that's part of it. What
part of it? I mean, I'm not shrink, Cheryl, but
I know that much when you take Ellie's weapon from
them surreptitiously, or you wrestle it away, or you get
it away somehow, that is like one of the biggest
no nos that can happen is to get an Elee
service weapon. So somehow, you know, I'm going to have
(05:16):
to bring it a shrink on this to figure this
one out. But in a way, this was something to
get back at the momb.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
I agree with you because I doubt, seriously that's the
only weapon in that house.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Oh you're right, I hadn't even thought of that.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
You have a thirty eight from Grandpa, you have you
know another nine milimeter that you enjoyed for you know,
just target practice. He didn't select any of those weapons.
He selected her service weapon.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I hate the new phraseology. It's not that new to
unpack because it sounds like you're jumping home from a
vacation or something. Oh, that's unpack. I don't like that phrase.
It's like when people say my bad, and it's like
a lot more serious than my bad. I don't like
unpack makes it like I said, elect, you're just coming
home from a spring vacation. Guess where where I'm coming
(06:08):
home from. That's not correct right now? Looking at colleges
with the twins, and guess that. We were talking about
all of the twins friends that have gone to Tallahassee
and or other Florida schools and how happy they are
and how great they're doing. And the twins don't know
about the shooting. I didn't even say anything. I'm just like, yeah,
(06:30):
they're awesome. It's just it sends there's so many reverberations
to what has happened. Okay, I know I've spent the
first what five minutes talking about everything but the actual crime.
But it's there's just so many layers to what's happened.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
And I think you said it beautifully. Just then this
thing does have a ripple effect. It affected you yesterday.
Here you are with the twins doing something that should
be fun. I mean, they are looking at the next
out that they are prepared for, and it should be
the most exciting thing they're doing. And now you have
to have that in your head that yes, there is
(07:09):
this person that has just changed the trajectory of some
of these young people's college experience.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
I would just want to walk the twins away and
not let them get out. Yeah, I get it, because
there's there's just there's no way to protect them, you know.
And I've been finding this my whole life since Keith
was killed. I mean, what can I do? Can I
put this bad guyway? Can I put that bad guyway?
Can I do this? Can I get in that program?
Blah blah blah blah blah. I can't protect them, and
(07:38):
I feel like I'm in hit by Max Truck.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
No I understand. I know when Hug was getting ready
to leave. I mean I even joked with Walt, like,
why did we ever teach him to read? You know,
just remember you think that it is fake you stay,
you know. And one because we were gonna, of course,
miss him so much because he's so much fun and
you know, just it's a party all the time, and
(08:01):
I didn't want to lose that. And didn't they get
about Caroline right behind him? I mean, I can't imagine
who at a time?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Oh hey, can I point out one other thing? Do
you know? Where I first saw Keith was on a
college campus walking to class. I'll never forget. I stopped
mid stride and went, who is that? And I immediately thought, well,
he's so handsome, he would never date anybody like me,
(08:33):
and I just kept going. It took me about three
minutes to break him his girlfriend up. Okay, maybe not
even that long, but you know where I met David,
who of course I credit with saving my life my parents,
because I was in no shape to have any kind
of relationship with anybody. But somehow, some way, the Lord
(08:56):
made him fall fast and he's stuck with me until I,
you know, was kind of coming out the other end
of the tunnel. I mean, I could at least function
and eat, and I couldn't go to parties or events
or anything like that. I'd get that far to the
parking lot and see other people having fun and then
(09:17):
just break down in tears in the car and have
to go back home because I couldn't stand the fact
that the world was just moving on like nothing happened
when Keith was murdered. So I met David in the
student union. You know where I'm going with this. Okay,
this guy opens fire at FLORISDA State University and it
(09:39):
all starts around the student union. Gunfire erupts near the
student union where all the students are gathering. You know,
they're not in class, they're having fun, they're talking, and
midday when it is the most packed. I told you
we were looking at a college yesterday and we went
(10:00):
in the morning, we hardly saw any students. They were
all in class. I'm like, where is everybody? And they
were in class. But the closer it got to lunch time,
they were everywhere. So the location was intentional. The time
was intentional, the location within the location near the student union,
(10:21):
within a college campus. I mean it was so intentional.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
The weapon was intentional. Right before Easter's intentional. I mean
everything was calculated. The fact that he didn't take his
own life intentional. Everything he did and did not do
was planned out. And when we talk about soft targets. Again.
(10:47):
Most college campuses now have their own police department. But
when you talk about a student union and you've got
that many people milling around, you're going to have people
running in all directions. They don't know where to go.
It's wide open, it's open air looking. There's nothing to
dive behind, there's nowhere to hide, there's not enough room
(11:08):
to get out.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
And I'll tell you something else. This is just I
don't even know what to make of this. You know,
when when I first went to college, I did not
know what was going to be. My mother said, be
a pharmacist. You'll always have a child. I'm like, okay,
I'll be a pharmacist. I went to college and they said, okay,
(11:30):
what do you want to be? And I'm like a
pharmacist and they went, okay. They signed me up for
pharmacological form all pharmacological chemistry. I had never even had
high school chemistry. I did not know what are you
talking about. I didn't even know what the elements were.
I just it was like everyone was speaking in Russian.
(11:51):
They all had had multiple and I was so naive.
I didn't even know about drop bad cheryl anyway. I
compare that to what I'm feeling right now, because I
don't understand the odds of what I'm about to tell you.
One of the students caught up in the shooting Thursday
(12:13):
was also a student and Wrisori Stumm in Douglas when
Nicholas Cruz opened fire. It's Joshua Gallagher, he wrote on
x after living through the NST shooting in twenty eighteen,
I never thought it would get close to home again.
Then I'm in the FSU library and here an alarm
active shooter on campus. I mean, what, it's statistically impossible.
(12:39):
I mean, I don't anyway. This guy right, he's probably
hiding under his bed at his grandma's house right now
with the door lock.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
I mean, he not only has to believe that you're
not safe anywhere, he's lived it twice in the place
where he should be safe.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
So Cheryl, oh, yeah, I started this whole thing by saying,
sometimes it's not just the pain of what I think
the victims are going through, the victims' families or the
victim themselves, it's the fact that it's exhausting. It sucks
all the energy out of you to realize, Hey, we
(13:18):
just did this. We just talked about this, this just happened.
Now the same thing has happened, and more people are dead,
more innocent young people did Why. I know this is
an old adage, but we put people on the moon.
We have all sorts of amazing scientific breakthroughs, but we
(13:42):
can't solve this. And when people refer to crime as this,
this is crime story that's not as important as some
political bs that's happening in Washington today and tomorrow and
the day before. This is as important or more important.
(14:04):
People are losing their lives on American soil. Why.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I mean, you have a way, obviously, of gripping and
powering through this ridiculousness. And I think part of it
is people don't want to tell the truth. And this
is what I mean. When people are suffering from some
type of mental illness, when they are struggling, when they
are angry all the time about things that may or
(14:31):
may not make sense to other people. Sometimes people don't
know what to do when they do nothing. I don't
believe that that shooter had an issue yesterday. I don't
believe that, no. So I think sometimes things are ignored
to the point and then people say, but I never
(14:52):
thought you would do this. Well, you knew step one,
step two, step three, step four, and you did nothing.
You didn't keep your gun and your locker at work.
You didn't make sure he didn't have access to whatever.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Well. The other irony, Cheryl is that according to the
Leon County Sheriff McNeil, he stated that the shooter, twenty
years old, was a member of the Sheriff's department youth
set up and was involved in all of these Sheriff's
youth training programs. His words, the Sheriff's words were, the
shooter is quote steeped, you know, like steep t little
(15:33):
Steeped in the Leon County Sheriff's office family. And I
just and you know the mom is a Leon County
Sheriff's deputy. Just. I mean, of course they're going to
prosecute him without any regard to who his mom is. Just.
I'm telling you it's deeper than we know. But the
(15:53):
reality is when I would try cases, and I told
you it took me about five years to say why
ask why I was sitting in court it was a
murder case, and I would never look over at the
defendant or the defense during the trial ever. But I
(16:14):
snuck a look over there while the jury was out,
and I thought, why would he have done this? Just
so senseless? And then it hit me, after five years
of trying nothing but felonies, like why am I wasting
my time asking why? Because why doesn't matter? Yes, I
like to give the jury a motive to tie it
(16:35):
up with a bow and make it understandable, But it
doesn't matter. And we have spent this amount of time
talking about this guy did it? Why did he do it?
It doesn't matter he did it. Now to me, all
that matters is putting him behind borers until it gets
his ultimate sentence. He is death penalty qualified under the
(16:59):
US court decisions. Whether they'll do that, I don't know.
I assume that they will unless he has some type
of mental impairment. Yeah, but now it's solving the case
and trying to figure out how to stop this I
don't know the answer, but asking why and trying to
figure out what was going on in his mind. It's
like going in your crazy ants attic and trying to
(17:21):
make sense of it. I'm just no, I'm.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Not you know. I thought of you yesterday too, because
almost immediately all the wine people were just dragging his mama.
You know. They talked about how she looked, They talked
about how she allowed him access, they talked about how
she she go to prison too. And I thought about you.
Years ago, there was a young reporter who adds up
(17:47):
the nasty to say to you. So I responded, I mean, honey,
I just used some white trash poetry on her. And
I remember you called and you said, take it down. Well,
I was like, take it down? Did you read what
I wrote? It is a work of art, Like I
(18:09):
wanted her to know she had been dogcaused, you know.
And you said no, you said I will never forget it.
You said, you don't need to fight my battles. Well,
I'm still looking at this like I'm trying to be
your good friend and I'm not going to let that
too bit loser say something about you. And she already
(18:31):
know what she's talking about. And you said, no, if
you fight my battles, now you're in it and they're
going to come after you. And I remember I was
so just gobsmacked over that because I'm like, wait a minute,
you're looking out for me when I was trying to
(18:53):
look out for you. You still are caring about somebody coming
after me, and it just it blew my mind and
I thought, you know what, that, to me is something
that is missing in all of this, Like the tragedy
at attract me. Like everybody's now threatening the judge, they're
(19:17):
threatening law enforcement, they're threatening the victims family, they're threatening
the accused family. Like nobody is gonna win on this thing.
And that's what I thought about yesterday when I saw
people going after the mama, that you're not protecting anybody
by continuing to go after people.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
I swear Cheryl. It seems like the harder I try,
we try to do the right thing, the more we're attacked.
I'm thinking about you know, forget about us, screw that,
what about these families, the victims' families. Oh my stars,
(20:01):
their lives are just the pain they're suffering right now.
I cannot even imagine losing a child. I don't even
want to go there. I don't even think about it.
But that's what I'm thinking about this morning, because you
and I are going to get attacked. And you know what,
this is good Friday. And you know what Christ said
when he was attacked, thou sayest go on say it?
(20:25):
So what that's saying it's true. I'm not agreeing. I'm
not disagreeing. You just go right ahead and say whatever
it is, just thou sayest just go.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Ahead, Amen, And I will leave it at that.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
And I would like to ask for prayers for these families.
And I don't know if I ever forgot to thank you
for asking your listeners to pray for my d Do
you know she is walking and talking. She's a miracle,
as she's a medical miracle. Absolutely, she was having brain
(20:58):
seizures that they and they couldn't even sedate her to
put her into one of those jeeves or cats. Kid,
they couldn't. She was having such bed she couldn't be still.
And now she's walking and talking, getting ready for Easter.
It is a miracle. And I'm gonna throw.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
One more thing in there. You know my long time
friend mister Josh, his mom is in the hospital. I
want you to pray for her to because I really think,
I really believe with all my heart that prayer changes things.
So between these victims out of Florida and Josh's mother,
(21:41):
we've got plenty to pray about.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
We do that, we have a lot to be grateful for.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
We really do, Cheryl, you have the best blessed Easter,
and let's just keep our nose in the wind and
our eyes on the horizon. That's what we'll do.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Amen in their party, Hug will take
Speaker 3 (22:08):
M hm
Welcome to the crime round up. Oh it is a
beautiful day and it landin eights grace, It really is,
and it's.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good, Artie. And I'm just right now thinking about what
Florida has been through again. I mean, you know, it
just seems to me like we do the same thing
over and over and over again. And from what I understand,
victims are fighting for their lives in a hospital right now.
(00:41):
You know, they go it hit me Ryl when Keith
was murdered, my fiancee, And I use that basically, as
you know, my north star. When I analyze cases, always
fron behalf of the crime victim. You start your day normally,
you think, well, you know, think everything's fine. You're too
(01:02):
dumb to think it's not fine. You just go about
your business and then suddenly the next thing you know,
your life is completely ripped apart. And that's the same
thing that's happened to these families. Two people did as
of this moment, unless it's gone up in the last
hour and I don't know about it. And six injured
(01:23):
and I don't mean just injured, I mean finding for
their lives. I mean people stay in the hospital hallways,
praying in the waiting rooms, just prayer chains, chasing doctors
down the hall, the whole shebbat again. And sometimes Cheryl,
when I'm working a case, investigating a case, it's not
(01:45):
just the pain of that case. And what I think
the families are going through is the fact that hey,
we just did this, we just did this, and it's
happening again.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
And Nancy, you know, I'm often reminded when I were
with Tupac's mom. Do you know she repeatedly would ask
She cared more about the why than the who. She
just could not, in her mind understand why why would
(02:18):
you kill him? And I think every single time, especially
when there's a mass why these soft targets. These kids
just want to go to class, They just want to
go to a frat party, They just want to be together,
they just want to go to ballgames. I mean, this
is literally one of the most significant times of their life.
(02:43):
I mean, Taliessie is such a fantasistic place that college
does remarkable things with incredible people, and then this, And
there is no whyle. There is no reason, and I've
heard you say it, there is There's no reason that
I would ever be able to accept where I can
(03:05):
go oh, I see that. I understand why this happened.
I understand why you would walk into a college area
with your mom's service weapon and just start shooting people
you don't know. Well, that's a whole.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Another layer right there. Cheryl McCollums. I remember, and I
won't say his name. You know him well. He was
a great great he's turned off as a motorman, as
they called himselves, the motorcycle cop. I remember when he
was run over and dragged along the asphalt. I was
in the hospital forever because he was out, you know,
(03:39):
by the side of the road as a motorman and
went on to climb up the ranks of APD. And
then I remember when he was going to law school
at night to become a lawyer. I remember one of
the worst things that ever happened to him, according to him,
came his perspective was his near do well brother got
(04:02):
a hold of a service weapon and shot the gun.
I can't say any more of that identifying, but no
other person was hurt. You would think that it was
the end. And that was when I found out how
serious it is for you not to have control of
your weapon, not to know weapon where it is, who
(04:23):
has it now. I think this through with me, Cheryl.
He the year had to know that about his mom.
Right when a when LA loses their weapon or somebody
takes their weapon, that's like a serious, serious infraction for
the law enforcement officer's right and in some way getting
(04:47):
that weapon, I'm telling you, with some kind of swipe
at his mom does that. I'm not explaining why he
did what.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
No, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I'm just telling you that that's part of it. What
part of it? I mean, I'm not shrink, Cheryl, but
I know that much when you take Ellie's weapon from
them surreptitiously, or you wrestle it away, or you get
it away somehow, that is like one of the biggest
no nos that can happen is to get an Elee
service weapon. So somehow, you know, I'm going to have
(05:16):
to bring it a shrink on this to figure this
one out. But in a way, this was something to
get back at the momb.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
I agree with you because I doubt, seriously that's the
only weapon in that house.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Oh you're right, I hadn't even thought of that.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
You have a thirty eight from Grandpa, you have you
know another nine milimeter that you enjoyed for you know,
just target practice. He didn't select any of those weapons.
He selected her service weapon.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I hate the new phraseology. It's not that new to
unpack because it sounds like you're jumping home from a
vacation or something. Oh, that's unpack. I don't like that phrase.
It's like when people say my bad, and it's like
a lot more serious than my bad. I don't like
unpack makes it like I said, elect, you're just coming
home from a spring vacation. Guess where where I'm coming
(06:08):
home from. That's not correct right now? Looking at colleges
with the twins, and guess that. We were talking about
all of the twins friends that have gone to Tallahassee
and or other Florida schools and how happy they are
and how great they're doing. And the twins don't know
about the shooting. I didn't even say anything. I'm just like, yeah,
(06:30):
they're awesome. It's just it sends there's so many reverberations
to what has happened. Okay, I know I've spent the
first what five minutes talking about everything but the actual crime.
But it's there's just so many layers to what's happened.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
And I think you said it beautifully. Just then this
thing does have a ripple effect. It affected you yesterday.
Here you are with the twins doing something that should
be fun. I mean, they are looking at the next
out that they are prepared for, and it should be
the most exciting thing they're doing. And now you have
to have that in your head that yes, there is
(07:09):
this person that has just changed the trajectory of some
of these young people's college experience.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
I would just want to walk the twins away and
not let them get out. Yeah, I get it, because
there's there's just there's no way to protect them, you know.
And I've been finding this my whole life since Keith
was killed. I mean, what can I do? Can I
put this bad guyway? Can I put that bad guyway?
Can I do this? Can I get in that program?
Blah blah blah blah blah. I can't protect them, and
(07:38):
I feel like I'm in hit by Max Truck.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
No I understand. I know when Hug was getting ready
to leave. I mean I even joked with Walt, like,
why did we ever teach him to read? You know,
just remember you think that it is fake you stay,
you know. And one because we were gonna, of course,
miss him so much because he's so much fun and
you know, just it's a party all the time, and
(08:01):
I didn't want to lose that. And didn't they get
about Caroline right behind him? I mean, I can't imagine
who at a time?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Oh hey, can I point out one other thing? Do
you know? Where I first saw Keith was on a
college campus walking to class. I'll never forget. I stopped
mid stride and went, who is that? And I immediately thought, well,
he's so handsome, he would never date anybody like me,
(08:33):
and I just kept going. It took me about three
minutes to break him his girlfriend up. Okay, maybe not
even that long, but you know where I met David,
who of course I credit with saving my life my parents,
because I was in no shape to have any kind
of relationship with anybody. But somehow, some way, the Lord
(08:56):
made him fall fast and he's stuck with me until I,
you know, was kind of coming out the other end
of the tunnel. I mean, I could at least function
and eat, and I couldn't go to parties or events
or anything like that. I'd get that far to the
parking lot and see other people having fun and then
(09:17):
just break down in tears in the car and have
to go back home because I couldn't stand the fact
that the world was just moving on like nothing happened
when Keith was murdered. So I met David in the
student union. You know where I'm going with this. Okay,
this guy opens fire at FLORISDA State University and it
(09:39):
all starts around the student union. Gunfire erupts near the
student union where all the students are gathering. You know,
they're not in class, they're having fun, they're talking, and
midday when it is the most packed. I told you
we were looking at a college yesterday and we went
(10:00):
in the morning, we hardly saw any students. They were
all in class. I'm like, where is everybody? And they
were in class. But the closer it got to lunch time,
they were everywhere. So the location was intentional. The time
was intentional, the location within the location near the student union,
(10:21):
within a college campus. I mean it was so intentional.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
The weapon was intentional. Right before Easter's intentional. I mean
everything was calculated. The fact that he didn't take his
own life intentional. Everything he did and did not do
was planned out. And when we talk about soft targets. Again.
(10:47):
Most college campuses now have their own police department. But
when you talk about a student union and you've got
that many people milling around, you're going to have people
running in all directions. They don't know where to go.
It's wide open, it's open air looking. There's nothing to
dive behind, there's nowhere to hide, there's not enough room
(11:08):
to get out.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
And I'll tell you something else. This is just I
don't even know what to make of this. You know,
when when I first went to college, I did not
know what was going to be. My mother said, be
a pharmacist. You'll always have a child. I'm like, okay,
I'll be a pharmacist. I went to college and they said, okay,
(11:30):
what do you want to be? And I'm like a
pharmacist and they went, okay. They signed me up for
pharmacological form all pharmacological chemistry. I had never even had
high school chemistry. I did not know what are you
talking about. I didn't even know what the elements were.
I just it was like everyone was speaking in Russian.
(11:51):
They all had had multiple and I was so naive.
I didn't even know about drop bad cheryl anyway. I
compare that to what I'm feeling right now, because I
don't understand the odds of what I'm about to tell you.
One of the students caught up in the shooting Thursday
(12:13):
was also a student and Wrisori Stumm in Douglas when
Nicholas Cruz opened fire. It's Joshua Gallagher, he wrote on
x after living through the NST shooting in twenty eighteen,
I never thought it would get close to home again.
Then I'm in the FSU library and here an alarm
active shooter on campus. I mean, what, it's statistically impossible.
(12:39):
I mean, I don't anyway. This guy right, he's probably
hiding under his bed at his grandma's house right now
with the door lock.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
I mean, he not only has to believe that you're
not safe anywhere, he's lived it twice in the place
where he should be safe.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
So Cheryl, oh, yeah, I started this whole thing by saying,
sometimes it's not just the pain of what I think
the victims are going through, the victims' families or the
victim themselves, it's the fact that it's exhausting. It sucks
all the energy out of you to realize, Hey, we
(13:18):
just did this. We just talked about this, this just happened.
Now the same thing has happened, and more people are dead,
more innocent young people did Why. I know this is
an old adage, but we put people on the moon.
We have all sorts of amazing scientific breakthroughs, but we
(13:42):
can't solve this. And when people refer to crime as this,
this is crime story that's not as important as some
political bs that's happening in Washington today and tomorrow and
the day before. This is as important or more important.
(14:04):
People are losing their lives on American soil. Why.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I mean, you have a way, obviously, of gripping and
powering through this ridiculousness. And I think part of it
is people don't want to tell the truth. And this
is what I mean. When people are suffering from some
type of mental illness, when they are struggling, when they
are angry all the time about things that may or
(14:31):
may not make sense to other people. Sometimes people don't
know what to do when they do nothing. I don't
believe that that shooter had an issue yesterday. I don't
believe that, no. So I think sometimes things are ignored
to the point and then people say, but I never
(14:52):
thought you would do this. Well, you knew step one,
step two, step three, step four, and you did nothing.
You didn't keep your gun and your locker at work.
You didn't make sure he didn't have access to whatever.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Well. The other irony, Cheryl is that according to the
Leon County Sheriff McNeil, he stated that the shooter, twenty
years old, was a member of the Sheriff's department youth
set up and was involved in all of these Sheriff's
youth training programs. His words, the Sheriff's words were, the
shooter is quote steeped, you know, like steep t little
(15:33):
Steeped in the Leon County Sheriff's office family. And I
just and you know the mom is a Leon County
Sheriff's deputy. Just. I mean, of course they're going to
prosecute him without any regard to who his mom is. Just.
I'm telling you it's deeper than we know. But the
(15:53):
reality is when I would try cases, and I told
you it took me about five years to say why
ask why I was sitting in court it was a
murder case, and I would never look over at the
defendant or the defense during the trial ever. But I
(16:14):
snuck a look over there while the jury was out,
and I thought, why would he have done this? Just
so senseless? And then it hit me, after five years
of trying nothing but felonies, like why am I wasting
my time asking why? Because why doesn't matter? Yes, I
like to give the jury a motive to tie it
(16:35):
up with a bow and make it understandable, But it
doesn't matter. And we have spent this amount of time
talking about this guy did it? Why did he do it?
It doesn't matter he did it. Now to me, all
that matters is putting him behind borers until it gets
his ultimate sentence. He is death penalty qualified under the
(16:59):
US court decisions. Whether they'll do that, I don't know.
I assume that they will unless he has some type
of mental impairment. Yeah, but now it's solving the case
and trying to figure out how to stop this I
don't know the answer, but asking why and trying to
figure out what was going on in his mind. It's
like going in your crazy ants attic and trying to
(17:21):
make sense of it. I'm just no, I'm.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Not you know. I thought of you yesterday too, because
almost immediately all the wine people were just dragging his mama.
You know. They talked about how she looked, They talked
about how she allowed him access, they talked about how
she she go to prison too. And I thought about you.
Years ago, there was a young reporter who adds up
(17:47):
the nasty to say to you. So I responded, I mean, honey,
I just used some white trash poetry on her. And
I remember you called and you said, take it down. Well,
I was like, take it down? Did you read what
I wrote? It is a work of art, Like I
(18:09):
wanted her to know she had been dogcaused, you know.
And you said no, you said I will never forget it.
You said, you don't need to fight my battles. Well,
I'm still looking at this like I'm trying to be
your good friend and I'm not going to let that
too bit loser say something about you. And she already
(18:31):
know what she's talking about. And you said, no, if
you fight my battles, now you're in it and they're
going to come after you. And I remember I was
so just gobsmacked over that because I'm like, wait a minute,
you're looking out for me when I was trying to
(18:53):
look out for you. You still are caring about somebody coming
after me, and it just it blew my mind and
I thought, you know what, that, to me is something
that is missing in all of this, Like the tragedy
at attract me. Like everybody's now threatening the judge, they're
(19:17):
threatening law enforcement, they're threatening the victims family, they're threatening
the accused family. Like nobody is gonna win on this thing.
And that's what I thought about yesterday when I saw
people going after the mama, that you're not protecting anybody
by continuing to go after people.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
I swear Cheryl. It seems like the harder I try,
we try to do the right thing, the more we're attacked.
I'm thinking about you know, forget about us, screw that,
what about these families, the victims' families. Oh my stars,
(20:01):
their lives are just the pain they're suffering right now.
I cannot even imagine losing a child. I don't even
want to go there. I don't even think about it.
But that's what I'm thinking about this morning, because you
and I are going to get attacked. And you know what,
this is good Friday. And you know what Christ said
when he was attacked, thou sayest go on say it?
(20:25):
So what that's saying it's true. I'm not agreeing. I'm
not disagreeing. You just go right ahead and say whatever
it is, just thou sayest just go.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Ahead, Amen, And I will leave it at that.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
And I would like to ask for prayers for these families.
And I don't know if I ever forgot to thank you
for asking your listeners to pray for my d Do
you know she is walking and talking. She's a miracle,
as she's a medical miracle. Absolutely, she was having brain
(20:58):
seizures that they and they couldn't even sedate her to
put her into one of those jeeves or cats. Kid,
they couldn't. She was having such bed she couldn't be still.
And now she's walking and talking, getting ready for Easter.
It is a miracle. And I'm gonna throw.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
One more thing in there. You know my long time
friend mister Josh, his mom is in the hospital. I
want you to pray for her to because I really think,
I really believe with all my heart that prayer changes things.
So between these victims out of Florida and Josh's mother,
(21:41):
we've got plenty to pray about.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
We do that, we have a lot to be grateful for.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
We really do, Cheryl, you have the best blessed Easter,
and let's just keep our nose in the wind and
our eyes on the horizon. That's what we'll do.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Amen in their party, Hug will take
Speaker 3 (22:08):
M hm
Host
Sheryl McCollum
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