Parkland sentencing: Judge formally sentences shooter to life in prison

Anthony Montalto, whose older sister, 14-year-old Gina, was killed, recalled his parents coming home the night of Feb. 14, 2018, with tears in their eyes, telling him his only sibling was dead.

He said he wishes he said goodbye to her that morning.

“I will never be able to watch TV with her, talk about books with her. Every day I walk by her room and see that it’s empty. … Every day I wake up and I remember that she will not be there,” Montalto said.

He called Nikolas Cruz a “murdering bastard” and said Cruz should’ve been sentenced to death.

“He shouldn’t live while my sister rots in a grave,” Montalto said.

Montalto said he hopes the jurors who voted for a life sentence regret their decision after hearing his testimony.

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Brother of Parkland victim strikes out at 'murdering bastard' Cruz

Anthony Montalto criticized the jury for deciding against sentencing gunman Nikolas Cruz to death for murdering 17 people on February 14, 2018.

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Gina Montalto’s father, Tony Montalto, added in court, “If the jury took in the evidence presented, there is only logical and fact-based outcome. Sadly, the jury ignored the facts and went with emotion. They worried how they’d feel ... [if Cruz] was put to death.”

“Did they consider what kind of message their verdict sent to our nation’s students and teachers?” he continued. “Did they consider how they would explain their verdict to the siblings of the victims, as my wife and I struggled to do?”

"I don't believe the case was fair to the victims. The court allowed the defense to show every aspect" of Cruz's life before the massacre, he said, yet victims' families could not bring photos of their loved ones to court or wear pins to honor them.

"The court did everything it could to dehumanize our beautiful Gina, her classmates and her teachers," he said. "My family and the others had to sit like church mice in the courtroom for fear of influencing the jury."

"This injustice must be fixed. The victims' rights must be recognized," he stressed.

Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed, chose not to deliver a new statement in court on Tuesday.

He tweeted, “My life is no longer dependent on the outcome of this trial and delivering another impact statement will not make me feel better.”

Guttenberg said the statement he gave earlier during the trial “had to meet legal requirements" and couldn't refer to the crime or "refer to the murderer as a murderer or a killer."

“During the sentencing today, we will be given a chance to make another statement and to say anything that we want. But will it make me feel better? We can say whatever we want to the murderer who committed the crime,” he continued. “I could talk about sitting with the State Attorney last week and finally watching the actual video of Jaime getting shot and how I felt with the way … she made it to within one second of safety, only for him to kill her with a single AR 15 shot.”

"We can say whatever we want to the jurors who made the wrong decision” and “whatever we want to the defense team that gave up its humanity to defend the monster,” Guttenberg wrote.

But with Nikolas Cruz’s fate already decided, “I have no need to think about him or to address him,” Guttenberg said.

“I will think about him only two more times. The first time will be when I sit and watch the formal sentencing. The second time will be when I read news reporting of the prison justice that he will eventually receive,” he said. “Going forward, I plan to focus more on those I love.”

Ellen Mayor read a statement in court on behalf of her daughter, Samantha Mayor, who was shot through the knee and survived.

Samantha Mayor in her statement called the shooting the “most fearful day of my life, when I was laying on the floor unable to move and terrified to speak. I remember accepting my death at that moment and reminding myself that my friends and family know that I love them."

She said she’s afraid of tight spaces, always searches for exits and is startled by noises. Samantha Mayor also said she’s fearful of when she’ll eventually send her own children to school.

“I’ve learned that the beginning of every year brings a lot of heartache for me … for the anniversary of when I saw death before my eyes. Carmen, I think about you every day and it never hurts less,” she said, referring to Carmen Schentrup, 16, who was killed.

She said she’s “devastated” by the life sentence.

“Now we all have to breathe the same air of someone who wanted us to never take another breath,” she said.

Anne Ramsay, mother of 17-year-old victim Helena Ramsay, called Nikolas Cruz “pure evil.”

She said the last text from Helena was a smiley face because she added a cookie into her daughter’s lunch that Valentine’s Day.

Ramsay also slammed the school district and sheriff’s office, who she alleged treated her family differently due to race.

She recalled when a reporter asked her if Cruz would have been shot if he was Black.

If Cruz was Black, Ramsay said, she thinks he would have been stopped before even entering the gate to the school.

“This is how we are treated,” she said.

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Mom of Parkland victim calls Nikolas Cruz ‘pure evil’

Anne Ramsay’s 17-year-old daughter Helena died in the mass shooting at South Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

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