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Bond set at $500,000 for brother of Parkland school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz.

 
Zachary Cruz, center, the brother of the Florida school shooting suspect, is displayed in a monitor via closed circuit television from the main jail as he as he makes his first appearance on charges of trespassing on the grounds of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Tuesday, March 20, 2018, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A judge set an unusually high $500,000 bond on Tuesday and imposed a host of other restrictions. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)
Zachary Cruz, center, the brother of the Florida school shooting suspect, is displayed in a monitor via closed circuit television from the main jail as he as he makes his first appearance on charges of trespassing on the grounds of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Tuesday, March 20, 2018, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A judge set an unusually high $500,000 bond on Tuesday and imposed a host of other restrictions. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)
Published March 20, 2018

A Broward County judge set a $500,000 bond Tuesday for Zachary Cruz, who was caught skateboarding Monday on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School grounds where brother Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people in February.

Prosecutors asked for $750,000. The standard bond for trespassing on school grounds is $25 and Cruz, 18, had paid it, his bond attorney said.

"He's being held because of who he's related to, not because of what he did," Cruz's bond attorney argued before Judge Kim Theresa Mollica.

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Mollica, who also handled Nikolas Cruz's bond hearing, said Zachary Cruz's Lake Worth home is to be searched for guns; he's to have no contact with his brother or any Stoneman Douglas students or staff. And, should Zachary Cruz post bond, he's to wear an ankle monitor; stay one mile from Stoneman Douglas High School and 500 feet from any school or child care facility.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Zachary Cruz came on campus around 4:30 p.m. Monday. He said he wanted to "reflect on the school shooting and soak it in."

Prosecutors said some parents kept their children home from Stoneman Douglas Tuesday upon hearing of Zachary Cruz skateboarding around campus Monday afternoon.

David J. Neal: 305-376-3559, @DavidJNeal