Parkland Shooting

A prosecutor says the gunman who attacked the high school in Parkland, Florida, in 2018 should be executed because he killed his victims in a cold and ...

The jurors are told that to vote for the death penalty, the aggravating circumstances presented by the prosecution for the victim in question must, in their judgment, outweigh mitigating factors presented by the defense. It wasn’t clear if anyone was in the courtroom to support Cruz, who sat at the defense table between his attorneys. We had no way to protect ourselves,” said Gilbert, who is now a student at the University of Central Florida. Four people were shot in that room, she said, including one who died. The trial, which is expected to last four months, was supposed to begin in 2020, but it was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and legal fights. “This is what the defendant said: ‘Hello, my name is Nik. I’m going to be the next school shooter of 2018. Some were shot sitting at their desks, some as they fled and some as they lay bleeding on the floor while Cruz methodically stalked through a three-story building for almost seven minutes with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

Prosecutors played chilling videos taken by students during the shooting, prompting a mistrial request that the judge denied. The day ended with testimony ...

“This certainly is the type of case the death penalty was designed for,” Mr. Satz said in a statement a week after the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting. He appeared to try to get ahead of the arguments that the defense team will likely make in its opening statement and throughout the trial. Mr. Satz said that he plans to prove seven aggravating factors out of the 16 that are outlined in Florida law to justify the death penalty. That a victim was an appointed public official engaged in the performance of his or her official duties. As horrifying sounds emerge from a video of the school shooting that is being played for jurors, the gunman who carried out the attack has buried his head in his hands at the defense table. The argument the lawyers are making is in part that the video, played at full volume, and the outburst from one of the victims’ families in the courtroom, inflamed the jury. Defense lawyers asked the judge to declare a mistrial, arguing that playing the video for the jury during Mr. Kraemer’s testimony, with gunshots audible in the court at full volume, was inflammatory and unnecessary, and that the reaction of the parents who shouted for it to be turned off could be prejudicial. The prosecution argues that each count of murder or attempted murder in the case is an aggravating factor for the other counts. The video startled the courtroom audience and prompted the parents of one of the students who died in that classroom to yell for the recording to be turned off. Defense lawyers asked for a mistrial as a result of the showing of the video and of the reaction of the deceased student’s parents. As prosecutors played another video from inside a classroom during his testimony, the parents of Helena Ramsay, a student who was killed in that classroom, shouted for it to be turned off. Students who had been kneeling started screaming and wailing at the sight of one of their classmates dead in a pool of blood.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The coming days and months of the penalty phase of the Parkland school shooting trial will undoubtedly be very hard for the victims' ...

April 4: Jury selection begins for Parkland school shooter’s penalty phase trial July 18: Emotions in courtroom high on day 1 in penalty phase trial for Parkland school shooter FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The coming days and months of the penalty phase of the Parkland school shooting trial will undoubtedly be very hard for the victims’ families.

The trial began Monday for the admitted gunman of the 2018 attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 people dead and 17 others injured.

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The gunman who fatally shot 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, more than four years ago was ...

Every vote must be unanimous; a non-unanimous vote for any one of the victims means the shooter's sentence for that person would be life in prison. We had no way to protect ourselves," said Gilbert, who is now a student at the University of Central Florida. Four people were shot in that room, she said, including one who died. Cellphone video clips Gilbert took from inside the classroom were shown to the jury, and the audio included multiple gunshots as a fire alarm sounded. He mostly looked down at a pad of paper with a pencil in his hand, but he did not appear to write. Nikolas Cruz, 23, appeared before a jury that will determine whether he is sentenced to the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. About 50 family members of the victims were in the courtroom, some couples holding hands.

Day 2 of the penalty phase trial for confessed Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz began Tuesday with the defense team arguing that the state doesn't need ...

We had no way to protect ourselves,” said Danielle Gilbert, who is now a student at the University of Central Florida. The footage began with a girl curled up beneath the teacher’s desk and others, including Gilbert, mostly unseen as they crouch behind it. “And I saw a pile of blood forming under him and I saw his body, not spasming, but trying to take his final breathes.” “This is what the defendant said: ‘Hello, my name is Nik. I’m going to be the next school shooter of 2018. Dworet testified that he heard some loud noises, but initially thought it could be the band coming down the hallway. It’s going to be a big event, and when you see me on the news, you’ll know who I am. Cruz pleaded guilty in October to murder and attempted murder in the deaths of 14 students and three staff members at the school. You’re all going to die. At the time, Gilbert was a junior who was in psychology class when the shooting began. “There was like a metal bar at the desk and half of his body was off the bar and the other half was still in his seat,” Dworet said. He said he then felt a hot sensation on the back of his head and realized he was in danger. Dworet described to the court how he took cover in a corner of the classroom as his peers checked on him.

Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty last October to 17 counts of first-degree murder. Jurors must decide whether he gets death or life without parole.

The jurors are told that to vote for the death penalty, the aggravating circumstances the prosecution has presented for the victim in question must, in their judgment, “outweigh” mitigating factors presented by the defense. The shooting on Feb. 14, 2018, is the deadliest to reach trial in U.S. history. “This is what the defendant said: ‘Hello, my name is Nik. I’m going to be the next school shooter of 2018. About 50 family members of the victims were in the courtroom, some couples holding hands. It is the nation’s deadliest mass shooting to go before a jury. A seven-man, five-woman panel, backed up by 10 alternates, will hear the case, which is expected to last about four months.

Prosecutor describes Nikolas Cruz's 2018 rampage through Florida school, killing 17, as he makes case for death penalty; chilling footage shows kids seeking ...

The jurors are told that to vote for the death penalty, the aggravating circumstances presented by the prosecution for the victim in question must, in their judgment, outweigh mitigating factors presented by the defense. It wasn’t clear if anyone was in the courtroom to support Cruz, who sat at the defense table between his attorneys. During jury selection, the panelists said under oath that they are capable of voting for either sentence. The officers tell the students to run out. The defense requested a mistrial over the outburst, but it was denied. We had no way to protect ourselves,” said Gilbert, who is now a student at the University of Central Florida. About two dozen shots that seemed to be coming from just outside the door are heard in rapid succession as the fire alarm sounds. The trial, which is expected to last four months, was supposed to begin in 2020, but it was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and legal fights. The teacher told students to get behind her desk. Eventually, the voices of police officers can be heard approaching. “This is what the defendant said: ‘Hello, my name is Nik. I’m going to be the next school shooter of 2018. Some were shot sitting at their desks, some as they fled and some as they lay bleeding on the floor while the former Stoneman Douglas student methodically stalked through a three-story building for almost seven minutes with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

A gunman pleaded guilty to the premeditated murder of 17 people and the attempted murder of 17 others. Jurors will decide whether he can be sentenced to ...

If a single juror disagrees, the gunman would be sentenced to life. Two of the votes against him were cast by victims’ relatives who had been elected to the board after the shootings. Both Mr. Runcie and Ms. Myrick pleaded not guilty to the charges and negotiated handsome exit compensation packages from the school district, his for almost $755,000, hers for $226,349. After Mr. Cruz’s mother died, a friend of hers promised to take care of him and his brother. His lawyers have also argued that he should not be held criminally responsible for any lack of training or clear policy direction from his former boss, Sheriff Scott Israel, whom the state removed from his position following the shooting. Mr. Cruz killed the 17 victims and injured 17 others without entering a single classroom. His mother died of pneumonia in 2017, just a few months before the shooting. Three days later, he bought the semiautomatic rifle he would use in the shooting. She played no role in his upbringing, but her extensive criminal and drug abuse history is expected to come up in the trial. The trial in this penalty phase is set to begin on Monday in a Fort Lauderdale courtroom. The authorities had missed several opportunities to intervene in his life as it unraveled. The others died during their attacks, either by suicide or in a confrontation with the police.

Jurors in the penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz are being shown graphic video of him murdering 17 people inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas ...

A teacher hiding behind the door poked her to see if she was still alive, but she didn't move. She thought it might be a drill, but then she spotted the body of 14-year-old Alex Schachter, who had been fatally shot at his desk. They tried to run into their classroom, but the door was locked. Cruz then continued through the second floor, where he fired into classrooms but hit no one. He exchanged greetings with two students, Luke Hoyer and Martin Duque, as they crossed paths in the first-floor hallway. Cruz shot them again as he past, killing them. He had left his English class to use the bathroom. He fired at them as they ran away. Shown later to reporters, it depicts Cruz crouching and stalking, firing at anything that moves, down the halls and into classrooms. When he reached the third-floor, the video shows, Cruz found students and teachers in the hallway, preparing to evacuate as the first-floor shots had set off the fire alarm. Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder for the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre. Cruz kills him with a blast as he passes.

Prosecutors urged the jury to consider the death penalty against Nikolas Cruz, the gunman who confessed to killing 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas ...

He confessed the murders to the police the day of the shooting. Cruz, a former U.S. Army Junior ROTC cadet, had been expelled from the school a year before the shooting — the largest school shooting in U.S. history — for undisclosed disciplinary reasons. Cruz pleaded guilty in April to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder for the killing of 14 students and three staff members on Feb. 14, 2018.

The jury privately watched footage of the mass shooting, which was taken from security cameras at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

He and other students scrambled away from the window, using Hass' desk as a barrier. Feis drove McKenna in his golf cart to an adjacent building for safety, and then went to the three-story building McKenna fled from. Feis went in and was fatally shot immediately by the defendant, who had already killed Hoyer, 15, and Duque, 14, and eight others. He had left his English class to go to the bathroom and exchanged greetings with two students, Luke Hoyer and Martin Duque, as they crossed paths in the first-floor hallway. Samantha Fuentes, another student who was shot while in Holocaust history class, said she remembered seeing two other classmates, including Ramsay, dead beside her. He had suffered arm and leg wounds. Two other witnesses from that Holocaust studies class also testified Tuesday. Samantha Grady said that her friend Helena Ramsay warned her to hide. She thought it might be a drill, but then she spotted the body of 14-year-old Alex Schachter, who had been fatally shot at his desk. McKenna sprinted out to the parking lot as the defendant went into the hallway and began shooting. "The sound was so loud. He sometimes looked up to exchange whispers with one of his attorneys. They argued that witness statements of what happened would be sufficient.