Johnathan Cruz, 19, 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.” Cruz was held on murder counts and various other counts of robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, taking property by force, intimidation with a deadly weapon and pointing a firearm at another person, according to Marion County Superior Court records.
Prosecutors said Cruz killed three people identified as Billy Boyd and Jay Higginbotham, who were killed May 12, and Jose Alberto Ruiz, who was killed May 15. All the victims were apparently chosen at random.
Cruz was arrested while already in custody on separate charges of criminal confinement, kidnapping and battery in connection with a an alleged drug deal gone bad, according to court records.
A juvenile witness described as a drug customer told officers that Cruz boasted that he was going on a “purge,” according to police. This is in reference the fictional federal law legalizing all crime for 12 hours one day a year.
In one of the text messages found on his phone, to a woman described as Cruz’s girlfriend, he allegedly wrote: “U Better go on Face book and watch da videos of me shootin people I Purge every night now Since im dieing someone else Has to Alot Of people [expletive] dat.”
What is wrong with people!
