Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz has been spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison by a Florida jury for carrying out the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that claimed 17 lives.
Cruz pleaded guilty last year to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder in connection to the Feb. 14, 2018, killing of 14 students and three staff members at his former school. Among the victims were 15-year-old Peter Wang, an Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps cadet who died while helping classmates escape, and 35-year-old Scott Beigel, a geography teacher who was shot dead while shepherding students to safety in his classroom.
This penalty phase trial was to determine if Cruz would be sentenced to death or life in prison for the massacre he committed at age 19.
Chen Wang, cousin of 15-year-old victim Peter Wang, said her aunt, Peter’s mother, suffers from PTSD and “has changed forever.”
"She cannot function normally. She cannot sleep,” she said.
Peter Wang's mother Hui Wang wipes away a tear after the jury rejected a death sentence for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Oct. 13, 2022.
Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Pool via Reuters
Victims’ families “are suffering,” she said, and “this result [from the jury] makes them suffer even more.”
"We have been quiet. We've been trying to follow, believing the system would help us, but it didn't today," she said.
Oct 13, 2022, 2:20 PM EDT
Prosecutor hopes decision brings ‘some measure of finality’
Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor said that during the trial prosecutors didn't shy "away from telling all of the horror, all of the loss, all of the devastation, all of the pain, all of the facts, all of the truth.”
“We hope that, while there is no such thing as closure, this will bring some measure of finality and justice to this terrible chapter,” Pryor said.
Debbie Hixon reaches out to her sister-in-law, Natalie Hixon, as they hear that Debbie Hixon's husband's murderer will not receive the death penalty as the verdicts are announced in the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Oct. 13, 2022.
Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool
“The parents and families of the schoolchildren and the staff members who were massacred lost so much and our hearts are with them,” Pryor said. “We hope they know that all of us lost 17 wonderful people that day and that our world is a poorer and sadder place without them. To the survivors, please know that you are not forgotten in this and that we respect and salute your courage in all that you have endured.”
Gena Hoyer holds a photograph of her son, Luke, who was killed in the 2018 shootings, as she awaits the verdict in the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse Oct. 13, 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Amy Beth Bennett-Pool/Getty Images
Oct 13, 2022, 1:12 PM EDT
Fred Guttenberg: ‘Jury failed our families’
Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed in the massacre, said after court, "I'm not often stunned, but I am stunned by this verdict today."
Fred Guttenberg reacts as he awaits a verdict in the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022.
Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool
"I could not be more disappointed," he said.
“I don't know how this jury came to the conclusions that they did," he said.
Fred Guttenberg, with his wife, Jennifer, holds a photograph of their daughter, Jaime during the penalty phase in the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse on Aug. 2, 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Amy Beth Bennett-Pool/Getty Images, FILE
“This decision today only makes it more likely that the next mass shooting will be attempted,” he said.
Guttenberg said he thinks the next mass shooter is planning his attack now, and "that person now believes that they can get away with it."
Assistant Public Defender Melisa McNeill, seated with Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz touches her hands to her head as the last of the 17 verdicts were read in the penalty phase of Cruz's trial at the Broward County Courthouse, Oct. 13, 2022, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Amy Beth Bennett/Pool/Getty Images
“There are 17 victims that did not receive justice today,” Guttenberg said. “This jury failed our families today. But I will tell you: The monster is gonna go to prison, and in prison, I hope and pray, he receives the kind of mercy from prisoners that he showed to my daughter and the 16 others. … He will die in prison, and I will be waiting to read that news on that.”
Oct 13, 2022, 12:38 PM EDT
Victim's dad: Cruz 'did not deserve compassion'
Tony Montalto, whose 14-year-old daughter, Gina, was killed, called the jury’s decision a “gut punch.”
“Pressing the barrel of his weapon to my daughter's chest. That doesn't outweigh [that Nikolas Cruz] had a tough upbringing?” Montalto said.
Tony Montalto, father of Gina Montalto, one of the victims of the Parkland shooting, reacts as he speaks in the media room next to the courtroom after the verdicts were read in the penalty phase of the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Oct. 13, 2022.
Marco Bello/Reuters
“Society has to really look and reexamine who and what is a victim. Not everyone's a victim. My beautiful Gina. the other sons, daughters, spouses and fathers -- they were the victims here. Our justice system should have been used to punish this shooter to the fullest extent of the law,” he said. “Not as an act of revenge, but to protect our nation's schools.”
“I think that it puts all school children in jeopardy. It certainly sends the wrong message,” he continued. “This shooter did not deserve compassion.”
