Parkland sentencing: Judge formally sentences shooter to life in prison

Bree Wikander was overcome with emotion as she spoke on behalf of her son, Ben, who was shot three times, including in the back. Ben was 17 at the time and suffered extensive injuries.

“One of Ben’s trauma surgeons … once said to us, Ben sustained injuries similar to what a soldier would in combat,” she said.

“To this day he is still recovering,” Bree Wikander said. “You will never understand the pain that he has gone through. His life and the lives of our entire family have changed forever both physically and mentally.”

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Parents of injured Parkland student says he’s still recovering

Bree and Eric Wikander spoke on behalf of their son, who was shot in the back.

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Ben’s father, Eric Wikander, said he hopes Cruz has a “painful existence” in prison, adding that it would still be “a fraction of what Ben endured.”

“You don’t know me, but you tried to kill me,” Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School teacher Stacy Lippel said to Nikolas Cruz in court.

“I will have a scar on my arm and the memory of you pointing your gun at me engrained in my brain forever. The person I was at 2:20 on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018, is not the same one who stands here today. I am broken and altered and I will never look at the world the same way again,” Lippel said. “A part of me is damaged and I can feel how different I am.”

She said she struggles with trust, is always thinking about the worst-case scenario, and is left with guilt, wishing she could have done more to save her colleagues and students. She said her husband’s and children’s innocence were stripped away, too.

Lippel said she’s “disgusted” that Cruz was spared the death penalty.

“My hope for you is that you die sooner rather than later,” calling him a “monster.”

After Lippel’s statement, Judge Elizabeth Scherer called her a “hero.”

Terri Rabinovitz, grandmother of 14-year-old victim Alyssa Alhadeff, said Florida’s Supreme Court should reexamine the law that requires a jury’s decision be unanimous for the death penalty.

“I’m too old to see you live out your life sentence, but I hope your every breathing moment here on earth is miserable and you repent for your sins, Nikolas, and burn in hell,” she said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has called on the state legislature to change the death sentencing rules in the wake of the Cruz verdict.

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Grandmother of Parkland victim tells Cruz to 'burn in hell'

Terri Rabinovitz, the grandmother of 14-year-old victim Alyssa Alhadeff, addressed gunman Nikolas Cruz in court during the victim impact statements.

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Debbie Hixon, wife of Chris Hixon, a 49-year-old coach killed in the school shooting, addressed Nikolas Cruz directly on Tuesday morning.

She said her husband “was stolen from us by an unimaginable act that you planned and executed.”

“You did not receive the justice that you deserve,” she said. “You were given a gift -- a gift of grace and mercy. Something you did not show to any of your victims. I wish nothing for you today. After today I don’t care what happens to you … you’ll be a number.”

“Today we close this chapter,” Hixon continued. She said she’ll choose to remember all of the positive memories of her husband, instead of the “darkness.”

Chris Hixon’s son, Thomas Hixon, said to Cruz, "You're not a disturbed or broken person," but instead "lacks character."

By killing his father, Thomas Hixon said Cruz "weakened a family, a community and generations of young adults by taking their strongest advocate out of their corner."

He called Cruz "living proof that evil does exist in our world."