Parkland sentencing: Judge formally sentences shooter to life in prison

Parkland shooting survivor Victoria Gonzalez gave a statement regarding her boyfriend, 17-year-old Joaquin Oliver, who was killed in the massacre.

She was wearing a yellow shirt with the words "Tu con balas, yo con bolas." It was the same shirt, she told Cruz, that Oliver was wearing "the night before you killed him."

The saying means, "You with bullets, I with balls," in Spanish.

"Crazy enough, he knew what was coming," she said of Oliver.

As a classmate of Cruz, she said that she was rooting for him.

"I felt like you needed someone or you needed something, and I could feel that," she said. "I felt how alone you might have felt, maybe."

Now, she said, she feels alone.

"I'm very isolated and I can't make friends and I can't build relationships because I'm looking over my shoulder, even emotionally," she said.

"I wish you had more love in your heart," she said.

April Schentrup wrote that she hoped the trial and verdict would provide "some level of accountability" for the murder of her daughter, 16-year-old Carmen Schentrup. But that was not the case, she wrote, in a statement read by Tamika Collins in court.

"Although one death sentence does not even come close to the 17 homicides and 17 attempted homicides he committed, I am still shocked at how members of this jury could decide a life sentence for someone whose life goal was to harm and kill others," she wrote.

She stated that the verdict sends the message to "potential mass shooters" that their lives might be spared.

"It is clear a few members of this jury value Carmen's life and the lives of 16 others less than the shooter's," she wrote. "It is also clear that they do not value the lives of future victims that will come about because of their decision."

Carmen's father, Philip Schentrup, remembered his "amazing," "funny" and "selfless" daughter in a statement read by Juan Vicente in court.

"Carmen was bursting forth from her cocoon," he wrote. "The only thing that could stop Carmen were bullets fired from the rifle of a pathetic and vile coward."

His daughter was failed by "every institution in our country," including the legal system, he wrote.

"There is no justice for Carmen, and the 16 other murdered victims," he wrote.

Samantha Fuentes, a former classmate of Cruz, spoke of her life after the tragedy and the trauma of being a survivor of the mass school shooting.

"I always have PTSD, depression, anxiety, suicidal ideations," she said in court.

She said she lives in "constant fear" of someone like Cruz.

She said she was angry with the verdict, though, unlike Cruz, "I'll never take my anger, pain and suffering out on others because I am stronger than you."

4:49

Victim lives in ‘constant fear’ after 2018 shooting

Samantha Fuentes gave a victim impact statement during a court hearing for Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz.

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The mother of Alyssa Alhadeff remembered her daughter's "beautiful smile and contagious laugh."

But she also remembered seeing her 14-year-old daughter in the medical examiner's office after she was killed in the Parkland shooting.

"All I wanted to do was to bring Alyssa back to life. But I couldn't protect her, and I couldn't save her," Lori Alhadeff said during her statement in court.

She addressed Cruz, speaking angrily.

"My hope for you is that you are miserable for the rest of your pathetic life," she said. "My hope for you is that the pain of what you did to my family burns and traumatizes you every day."

Alyssa's father, Ilan Marc Alhadeff, said the verdict brings no accountability or closure.

"What I see is that the system values this animal's life over the 17 now dead," he said. "Worse, we sent the message to the next killer out there that the death penalty would not be applied to mass killers. This is wrong and needs to be fixed immediately."

Alyssa's uncle also addressed the court via Zoom at the start of the hearing, remembering her as being full of empathy and care.

He finished his statement with strong words for Cruz: "Rot in hell."

2:43

Mother lashes out at Parkland shooter

Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter died in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, gave her victim impact statement in front of convicted killer Nikolas Cruz.

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