The guilty plea would set up a penalty phase where Nikolas Cruz, 23, would be fighting against the death penalty and hoping for life without parole.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The gunman who killed 14 students and three staff members at a Parkland, Florida, high school will plead guilty to their murders, his attorneys said Friday, bringing some closure to a South Florida community more than three years after an attack that sparked a nationwide movement for gun control.
The trial has been delayed by the pandemic and arguments between the prosecution and defense over what evidence and testimony could be presented to the jury. Some victims’ families had expressed frustration over the delays, but the president of the group they formed expressed relief that the case now seems closer to resolution.
Andrew Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter Meadow was killed, said the only thing that’s really changed is that Cruz is now closer to being sentenced. “He’ll either get death, or life in prison,” Pollack said, adding that he’s more focused on the systemic failures in the school system that led to the shooting. “Death by lethal injection seems too peaceful to me. I’d rather see a hanging in a public square.
Cruz’s rampage crushed the veneer of safety in Parkland, an upper-middle-class community outside Fort Lauderdale with little crime. Its educational crown jewel is Stoneman Douglas, a campus of 3,200 students that is one of the top-ranked public schools in the state..
Someone, worried about his emotional state, called the FBI a month before the shooting to warn agents he might kill people. The information was never forwarded to the agency’s South Florida office and Cruz was never investigated or contacted. The shooting happened on Valentine’s Day, minutes before the end of the school day. Students had exchanged gifts and many were dressed in red.
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