A jury in Broward County Florida has reached a verdict Wednesday, in the Parkland school shooter case. Nikolas Cruz carried out the massacre on Valentine’s Day in 2018 at Parkland Florida High School, Marjory Stoneman Douglas. During the seven minute event Cruz, 24, murdered 14 students and 3 staff members at the school. After firing away shots from an AR-15-style semi-automatic, he looped back killing those he had wounded.
While he began planning the event, including buying the rifle, almost a year before the event he became more serious seven months in advance. He made sure his attack was executed on Valentine’s Day, to forever tarnish the holiday for the school.
While his lead attorney Melisa McNeill and her team argued that he suffered with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which was never properly treated, it left him with severe mental and emotional deficits. Last year Cruz did however, plead guilty to the 17 murders.
During the three-month trial many security videos, crime scene photos, and autopsy photos were shared with the jury. While teachers, students, family members, and spouses gave testimonies and emotional statements against Cruz.
The jury reached their final verdict on just the second day of deliberation only 15 minutes into the day. It was decided that Cruz should receive life in prison without the possibility of parole. However, he did not receive the death penalty when the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on the recommendation for the death penalty. CNN has reported that the judge has set the sentencing date for November 1st starting at 9 a.m. EST.
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