FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Fox13) - Nikolas Cruz will be sentenced to life without parole for the 2018 massacre that killed 17 people at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, after the jury said Thursday that it could not unanimously agree that he should be executed.
Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer will formally issue the life sentences Nov. 1. Relatives, along with the students & teachers Cruz wounded.
Following the recommendation, the Stand With Parkland group – which includes parents & spouses of Parkland shooting victims – issued the following statement:
"Today’s ruling was yet another gut punch for so many of us who devastatingly lost our loved ones on that tragic Valentine’s Day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School," said Tony Montalto, father of Gina Montalto and President of Stand with Parkland. "17 beautiful lives were cut short, by murder & the monster that killed them gets to live to see another day. While this sentence fails to punish the perpetrator to the fullest extent of the law — it will not stop our mission to effect positive change at a federal, state and local level to prevent school shooting tragedies from shattering other American families."
If the jury recommended the death penalty, it must be unanimous, based on Florida law. If that happened, it would have been up to Judge Scherer to make a final decision.
The massacre is the deadliest mass shooting to ever go to trial. Nine other people in the U.S. who fatally shot at least 17 people died during or immediately after their attacks by suicide or police gunfire. The suspect in the 2019 massacre of 23 at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart is awaiting trial.
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