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Parkland school shooter to get life sentence for killing 17

Published:Thursday | October 13, 2022 | 12:58 PM
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz tugs at his shirt collar as he is seated at the defense table for the verdict in his trial at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Thursday, October 13, 2022. Cruz will be sentenced to life without parole for the 2018 massacre of 17 people at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. That sentence comes after the jury announced Thursday that it could not unanimously agree that Cruz should be executed. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A jury spared Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz from the death penalty Thursday for killing 17 people at a Parkland high school in 2018, sending him to prison for the remainder of his life in a decision that left many families of the victims angered, baffled and in tears.

The jury's decision came after seven hours of deliberations over two days, ending a three-month trial that included graphic videos and photos from the massacre and its aftermath, heart-wrenching testimony from victims' family members and a tour of the still blood-spattered building.

“We are beyond disappointed with the outcome today,” Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter, Alyssa, was killed, said at a news conference after the jury's decision was announced.

“This should have been the death penalty, 100%. Seventeen people were brutally murdered on February 14, 2018. I sent my daughter to school and she was shot eight times. I am so beyond disappointed and frustrated with this outcome. I cannot understand. I just don't understand.”

Under Florida law, a death sentence requires a unanimous vote on at least one count. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer will formally issue the life sentences on November 1.

Relatives, along with the students and teachers Cruz wounded, will be given the opportunity to speak at the sentencing hearing.

Cruz, his hair unkempt, largely sat hunched over and stared at the table as the jury's recommendations were read.

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