FORT LAUDERDALE (Florida), Nov 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Nikolas Cruz, the gunman who killed 17 people in a shooting attack on a high school in Parkland, Florida in 2018, was formally sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without parole.
A jury recommended the death penalty but later issued a verdict of life in prison with no parole in mid-October, which came at the end of a three-month trial.
Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer followed the jury’s recommendation.
The sentencing came a day after the families of the 17 children and staff members delivered emotional testimonies, with some cursing the 24-year-old shooter and others calling him a coward.
His defense argued that Cruz is mentally ill and his condition led him to the rampage in which he used a semi-automatic rifle at his former school.
Cruz, then 19, opened fire on students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb 14, 2018, killing 17 people and injuring another 17. He pleaded guilty in October last year to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.
The shooting prompted student survivors to found the March for Our Lives gun safety advocacy group, and led to changes in Florida gun laws, including raising the minimum age for firearms purchases to 21.
The massacre affected the community deeply, and had significant recriminations. Two Stoneman Douglas students later killed themselves, one a close friend of one of the victims. The Broward county sheriff, Scott Israel, was removed by Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, for perceived leadership failures.
Additionally, families of the victims and survivors reached a $127.5m settlement with the Department of Justice earlier this year after the FBI ignored warnings that Cruz intended to “shoot up a school”. — NNN-AGENCIES
