Perpetrator of the massacre at her high school in Parkland. Floridain 2018 will remain in prison permanently but avoided the death penalty as the jury denied the prosecution’s motion, which had been aggressively seeking the death penalty for three months throughout the trial.

After seven hours of deliberation, the jury agreed on aggravating circumstances, including the “brutal and inhumane” nature of the 17 murders committed by Nicholas Cruz with a semi-automatic rifle at his old school, Parkland High School, north of Miami. But at least one of them ruled that these aggravating factors were not enough to outweigh the mitigating factors presented by the defense, in particular Cruise’s difficult childhood and psychological problems.

The unanimity of the jury was required for a death sentence on this issue. The only other option was life imprisonment.

Nicholas Cruz, 24, did not react when Fort Lauderdale District Court Judge Elizabeth Scherer read out the guilty verdict.

The relatives of the dead silently watched what was happening, one of them shook his head disapprovingly. They will have the opportunity to testify at the hearing on November 1, when the judge will formally uphold Cruz’s sentencing to life in prison without parole.

“Let my massacre begin today,” he said in the video.

On February 14, 2018, 19-year-old Nicholas Cruz spread terror by opening fire at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, from which he had been expelled a year earlier. He fired for at least 10 minutes, killing 14 students and three adults. Another 17 people were injured.

In October 2021, he pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder. The sole purpose of his trial was to determine the punishment he deserved.

For three months, prosecutors presented jurors through testimony and video of the horrors inflicted by Cruz. In fact, the jury had the opportunity to visit the site of the tragedy. The prosecution also insisted that the young man planned the bloodbath in advance, based on a video he filmed himself. “Let my massacre begin today. And all the scared kids are running and hiding,” he said in a video that prosecutor Michael Satz called “a window into his soul.”

His lawyer, on the other hand, said the young man was born with fetal alcohol syndrome to a homeless mother who was an alcoholic and drug addict. He grew up in a cruel environment, with a depressed stepmother. And he asked the jury not to take revenge on him.

The Parkland attack shocked the American public and sparked a nationwide protest movement against gun ownership. Despite his psychological problems and signs of danger, Nicholas Cruz was able to legally purchase an AR-15 rifle.

^{Source: APE, AFP, Reuters.}