Parkland sentencing: Judge formally sentences shooter to life in prison

Many victims' parents are outraged that the gunman was spared the death penalty.

Last Updated: November 3, 2022, 6:19 AM EDT

Nikolas Cruz was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday, following two days of victim impact statements from survivors and family members of the 17 students and staff killed in the Parkland high school massacre.

Last month, a Florida jury rejected prosecutors' appeals for the death penalty, reaching a verdict on life in prison for the 2018 mass shooting Cruz committed at age 19 at South Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Many victims' parents were outraged by the verdict, arguing that sparing Cruz the death penalty may send a bad message to future school shooters.

The jury's decision needed to be unanimous to sentence Cruz to death.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Nov 01, 2022, 11:38 AM EDT

‘You can’t fix evil,’ dad says

Max Schachter, whose 14-year-old son, Alex, was killed, noted on Tuesday that, when families gave statements earlier during the penalty phase trial, they were prohibited from talking about Nikolas Cruz, the crime “and the punishment that he deserves.”

Schachter accused Cruz’s defense attorneys of “making the mental health crisis in America worse by misrepresenting what actually happened to the Parkland murderer.”

Max Schachter is pictured at the sentencing hearing for Nikolas Cruz, in the courtroom at the Broward County Courthouse, on Nov. 1, 2022, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
ABC News

“The defense, in their closing argument, said if he had just had the proper diagnosis, things would be different,” Schacter said. “Nothing would’ve changed. … He was on medicine after medicine … and he still wants to kill.”

Cruz grew up “in a loving home” with a mother who tried to help him, Schachter said.

“He had well over 200 individual sessions with mental health professionals. … They tried everything, they couldn’t have given him more services,” Schachter continued.

“But you can’t fix evil,” he said.

“He hunted down innocent children and staff, terrified then tortured them, blew their heads apart like a water balloon and enjoyed it,” Schachter said.

He said Cruz “does not deserve to live amongst us.”

Nikolas Cruz is pictured in the courtroom at the Broward County Courthouse for his sentencing hearing, on Nov. 1, 2022, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
ABC News

Schachter said, in prison, Cruz “gets to receive phone calls, boxes of fan mail. He gets to fall in love and get married. He gets a tablet to email and text people. He gets to receive visitors. He gets to watch TV … and even get a college degree.”

Schachter noted that today marks his birthday. He said his birthday wish each year will be for Cruz to “suffer a painful, painful violent death.”

After Schachter spoke, Cruz’s attorney said families are sending a bad message by attacking defense lawyers, jurors and the judicial system.

Nov 01, 2022, 11:02 AM EDT

Victim’s sister calls Cruz ‘remorseless monster’

Meghan Petty, sister of 14-year-old victim Alaina Petty, said she feels “betrayed by our justice system” with the jury rejecting the death penalty, and feels vulnerable sharing her pain with the public.

Alaina was shot multiple times, including through the heart, she said. Alaina died scared on a classroom floor, trying to hide behind a desk, she said.

“This entire ordeal has pushed me to my emotional, physical and mental limits. It will continue to do so for the rest of my life, even more so now that he has escaped being punished to the fullest extent of the law,” Petty said.

She called Nikolas Cruz a “remorseless monster who deserves no mercy.”

“This incredible darkness that he has within him -- which has been labeled here as mental illness -- is something that should be considered unacceptable and intolerable,” Petty said. But she said his life sentence sends the message to future shooters that “if one stretches the truth, they can get away with not only murder, but mass murder.”

“What we’ve been told here is 17 lives are worth nothing if you can make enough excuses for your actions,” she said.

Petty noted that she and Cruz are the same age.

“I could sit here and complain, as he has, that I’ve had a hard life. I was bullied in school. I’ve lost 15 family members and loved ones since I turned 9 to sickness, suicide, accident and now murder. Not once have I turned to ever hurting others … because I’m not a coward and I’m not weak,” she said.

"I will never get to say goodbye to her," she said of her sister. "She's never going to go to college, get a job, get married ... or even breathe again. But he'll be able to draw breath."

Nov 01, 2022, 10:40 AM EDT

Victim’s daughter-in-law calls Cruz a domestic terrorist

On the day of the shooting, Ines Hixon, daughter-in-law of slain coach Chris Hixon, was deployed on a U.S. aircraft carrier off the coast of Iran.

“He would’ve given the shirt off his back. He was a courageous, loving and wonderful man. And I never got the chance to tell him that,” she said through tears.

Ines Hixon was the daughter-in-law of Chris Hixon, the athletic director and wrestling coach at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who was killed in the attack.
5:48

Victim’s daughter-in-law calls Parkland shooter a 'domestic terrorist'

Ines Hixon was the daughter-in-law of Chris Hixon, the athletic director and wrestling coach at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who was killed in the attack.
ABCNews.com

“As a service member, I took an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. And to the defendant, that’s exactly what I view you as -- a domestic terrorist,” Ines Hixon said. “I wish no peace for you. I wish nothing but pain. And I hope that every breath you take, you remember that’s a breath you stole.”

PHOTO: Debbie Hixon, right, kisses her daughter-in-law, Ines Hixon, after she gave a victim impact statement in the sentencing hearing for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Nov. 1, 2022.
Debbie Hixon, right, kisses her daughter-in-law, Ines Hixon, after she gave a victim impact statement in the sentencing hearing for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Nov. 1, 2022. Debbie Hixon's husband, Christopher, was killed in the 2018 shootings. Cruz was sentenced to life in prison for murdering 17 people at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School more than four years ago.
Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool

After Ines Hixon spoke, Judge Elizabeth Scherer called her a “hero,” adding that her “beautiful family” has “made such an impression on this court.”

“I thank you for your service and bravery,” the judge added.

Nov 01, 2022, 10:21 AM EDT

Mom to Cruz: ‘Your living hell is about to get started’

Patricia Oliver, whose 17-year-old son, Joaquin, was among the victims, said in an impassioned statement, if this case “doesn’t deserve the death penalty, what does?”

PHOTO: Patricia Padauy Oliver speaks during her victim impact statement in the sentencing hearing for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022.
Patricia Padauy Oliver speaks during her victim impact statement in the sentencing hearing for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022. Padauy Oliver's son, Joaquin Oliver, was killed in the 2018 shootings. Cruz was sentenced to life in prison for murdering 17 people at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School more than four years ago.
Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool

“You had in your head enjoyment,” she said directly to Nikolas Cruz. “Listen to me, defendant -- enjoyment while killing my son, Joaquin Oliver, and coming back to him to blow his brain out.”

“Your living hell is about to get started,” she said. “Joaquin is a legend for what he is and for what he will be. Nice, kind, humble. And you will remember every single day of your life about what Joaquin is.”

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz speaks with Assistant Public Defender Melisa McNeill as the verdicts are read in his trial at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Oct. 13, 2022.
Amy Beth Bennett/POOL/AFP via Getty Images