PARKLAND, Fla. — A Broward County man is facing multiple charges for leaving dead animals on a memorial for the victims of the Parkland school shooting.
The investigation of his actions also revealed his disturbing fascination with mass school shootings.
Robert Mondragon, 29, is being held without bond on charges of removing or disfiguring a tomb or monument (three counts), violation of probation for battery and indecent exposure (five counts) and violation of a risk protection order.
On July 20, a school crossing guard noticed a dead duck with its chest cavity cut open on a bench at the MSD Memorial Garden, outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The next day the crossing guard found a dead raccoon on the same memorial bench. Then on July 31, a deputy found a dead opossum on the bench.
Detectives viewed surveillance video and saw a white Nissan with all black rims or tires with no hubcaps arrive at the memorial just after 11 p.m. on July 30.
Detectives said the man driving got out of the car and walked to the passenger's side, then entered the memorial for several minutes before leaving.
On July 31, a Broward Sheriff's Office (BSO) Parkland district deputy saw a white Nissan Sentra that matched the vehicle description of the car seen in surveillance video and conducted a traffic stop.
The deputy said Mondragon was the only person in the car and the deputy observed bird feathers and blood on the front passenger side floorboard.
Mondragon told the deputy he had the dead bird in his car because he likes "the metal and blood smell that emit from the dead animal."
BSO Violence Intervention Proactive Enforcement Response detectives received information about Mondragon's whereabouts and arrested him Aug. 4 for violating his probation for battery and indecent exposure and for violating his risk protection order.
BSO Threat Management Unit (TMU) deputies obtained various search warrants for Mondragon's car, home, cellphone and social media accounts.
They found a photo on Mondragon's phone of him holding a dead duck with its chest cavity cut open, and another photo on his phone of a dead raccoon in the floorboard of the passenger's side of his vehicle.
TMU detectives said further investigation revealed Mondragon's obsession with school shooters.
His facial tattoos resemble those of Tate Langdon, a character from the FX television series American Horror Story that was based on the Columbine High School massacre.
Detectives also found text messages about school shootings and internet searches about school shooters, how to break into steel doors, shootings involving multiple victims, pipe bombs, as well as slang terms for killing cops.
Their investigation also revealed evidence that two weeks before the end of the 2021/2022 school year, Mondragon walked the path that Nikolas Cruz took from the high school to Walmart on Feb. 14, 2018.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are pursuing possible federal charges against Mondragon.
