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Man accused of posing as Parkland suspect to harass victims’ families online

A California man was accused of taking the guise of Parkland shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz to cyberstalk and send threatening messages to the families of students killed in the Florida high school massacre.

Brandon Fleury bombarded the relatives with cruel taunts and threats on Instagram beginning in December, reminding the families of their loss during the first Christmas holidays since the attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Schoool, the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale reported.

Using multiple accounts, including one with the username “nikolas.killed.your.sister,” the accused sicko wrote, “I killed your loved ones hahaha,” “Your grief is my joy” and “I gave them no mercy,” according to a criminal complaint filed Friday in the Southern District of Florida.

“With the power of my AR-15, I erased their existence,” he also wrote in one post, which was accompanied by smiling, applauding and handgun emojis, according to the complaint.

At least five of the accounts traced back to an IP address in Santa Ana, where the suspect lived with his father and brother, the complaint said.

“One post threatened to kidnap the message recipients, while others sought to harass the recipients by repeatedly taunting the relatives and friends of the MSD victims, cheering the deaths of their loved ones,” FBI Special Agent Cameron McDowell wrote in the filing.

On Christmas Eve, several posts targeted Jesse Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old sister, Jaime, was among the 17 students and school staffers killed on Feb. 14, 2018.

Fred Guttenberg
Fred GuttenbergGetty Images

Guttenberg received the messages, “How’s Jaime, hun?” and “Dead huh,” according to the feds.

Jaime’s father, Fred, who became outspoken on gun control in the wake of the massacre, told The Daily Beast that he was “thankful for the work of law enforcement on this.”

On New Year’s Eve, Max Schachter, whose 14-year-old son, Alex, died in the massacre, also received taunting messages.

“Little [Alex Schachter] will never play music again,” Fleury allegedly wrote about the freshman, who had played the trombone.

Messages sent on Jan. 9 referred to Scott Beigel, 35, a Long Island-born geography teacher and cross-country coach who was killed while trying to lock a door to keep the shooter out.

“Hehehaha! Mr. Beigel is dead!” and “Come at me little orphan! I killed your father!” Fleury allegedly wrote.

He also allegedly used a “teddykillspeople” account to make kidnapping threats while posing as serial killer Ted Bundy, who was executed in Florida’s electric chair in 1989.

“I’m your abductor,” one message read.

A makeshift memorial setup in front of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
Getty Images

The grieving families notified the Broward Sheriff’s Office about the evil messages on Dec. 22.

When FBI agents showed up at Fleury’s home on Jan. 16, he told them he knew they were there because of “some stupid s–t” he had done online.

He showed no remorse, admitted to being fascinated by mass killers, and said he targeted Stoneman Douglas families to gain notoriety, McDowell wrote in the complaint.

Fleury’s father declined to say if his son was still in custody or whether he had a lawyer.

“Sorry, better luck next time,” Patrick Fleury told the Sun-Sentinel. “Bunch of nonsense.”

Fleury faces charges of communicating a threat and using a computer to intimidate another person.

A grand jury indicted Cruz on 17 counts of first-degree murder that could result in the death penalty.