Man Left Dead Animals On School Shooting Memorial, Idolized Mass Killers, Police Say

A man covered in face tattoos left dead animals on a memorial for the victims of the Parkland school shooting and idolized mass killers, police said.

This week, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest of Robert Mondragon, 29.

He is being held without bond on three counts of removing or disfiguring a tomb or monument and five counts of violation of probation for battery and indecent exposure and violation of a risk protection order.

On July 20, a crossing guard found a dead duck with its chest cavity cut open at a memorial for the Parkland school shooting victim, according to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.

Two other dead animals were found on the memorial on separate days.

Police found a suspect vehicle and, on July 31, stopped the car, investigators said. Mondragon was the only person in it and a deputy saw bird feathers and blood on the front passenger floorboard.

Mondragon told the deputy he had the dead bird because he likes “the metal and blood smell that emits from the dead animal,” according to the sheriff’s office.

Deputies arrested Mondragon on Aug. 4.

Police continued to investigate and found a Mondragon had an obsession with school shooters, according to the sheriff’s office. He also had facial tattoos that mimicked a fictional school shooter.

Investigators found text messages about school shooters and also found that Mondragon had traced the steps Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz took to the high school on the day of the incident.