Men & Women Are Sending Parkland Shooter Love Letters

Grown men and women and girls from all over the United States and Europe are sending love letters to Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old boy who shot and killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

According to the Broward County Public Defenders office, Cruz has received between 100 and 200 pieces of mail at the county jail where he's being held, CNN reports. Cruz has been able to see a small sampling of the fan mail, none of which criticized Cruz, who confessed to the shooting. Many letters offer to send the teen money, CNN notes.

"There's piles of letters," Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein, whose office is representing Cruz, told the Sun-Sentinel. "In my 40 years as public defender, I've never seen this many letters to a defendant. Everyone now and then gets a few, but nothing like this."

The newspaper notes men have been sending Cruz letters as well. One card featured a cat on the front and was sent by a New York man, who attached a photo of himself, which shows him with a bushy, gray mustache. The photo shows him sitting in his 1992 Nissan convertible, the Sun-Sentinel adds.

Many of the messages come from young girls and women, however. Nevertheless, Cruz is likely not aware of the amount of attention being sent to him - because he's on suicide watch, Cruz cannot receive mail. He also does not have access to media.

Finklestein told CNN he's allowed Cruz to look at some letters to show the continued "awfulness" of the case. He wants Cruz and his legal team to plead guilty in exchange for 34 consecutive life sentences, sparing the families of victims from the trauma of a trial.

He provided samples of the letters to CNN, which include suggestive photos from young and older women. One letter came from a Girl Scout troop and was signed by 15 girls. Click here to read the other letters provided to the network.