“There were 17 dead, so there is a story of 17 people dying,” Assistant Attorney General Jeff Markus told the court, explaining why the sentencing phase could last until the fall. “And then there are the other 17 that are considered aggravating in the case.” Jurors must unanimously agree that at least one aggravating factor – including the simultaneous felony charges for which Cruz pleaded guilty or if he knowingly created the risk of further death – exists among the 34 charges to begin with. then discuss whether he should face the death penalty. If this happens, they must be unanimous in recommending the death penalty, otherwise his sentence would necessarily be life imprisonment. If they recommend the death penalty, the final decision remains with the judge. Cruz testified to police shortly after the shooting, according to an affidavit, but later pleaded not guilty. His lawyers later told him he would change his statements to guilty if prosecutors removed the death penalty from the table, but they never did. Nevertheless, he changed his position to guilty for all 34 charges, creating the basis for the penalty phase.

14 students and 3 faculty members were killed

On the afternoon of February 14, 2018, the then 19-year-old Cruz, who had been expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas, went to an Uber at his former high school, according to a series of events reported by prosecutor Michael Satz on October 20 during a hearing in which Cruz pleaded guilty to. Cruz was carrying a rifle bag with an AR-15 rifle and a backpack carrying firearm cartridges and a tactical vest, Saj said. When he arrived, Cruz entered the three-story building 1200 of the high school, entered the east staircase and began to load the rifle. As he was doing this, a student entered the stairs, Sats said. “You better get out of here,” Cruz told the student, according to the prosecutor. “Something bad is going to happen.”
At about 2:21 p.m., Cruz opened fire in the hallway, Sachs said, shooting students and teachers in the hallways and classrooms as he walked through the building and went upstairs. At one point, dust shook from the roof tiles from the shots triggered the building’s fire alarm, sending students and teachers out of classrooms and into hallways. Of those killed, 14 were students: Alyssa Alhadeff, 14; Martin Duque Anguiano, 14; Nicholas Dworet, 17; Jaime Guttenberg, 14; Luke Hoyer, 15; Cara Loughran, 14; Gina Montalto, 14; Joaquin Oliver, 17; Alaina Petty, 14; Meadow Pollack, 18; Helena Ramsay, 17; Alex Schachter, 14; Carmen Schentrup, 16; and Peter Wang, 14. Geography teacher Scott Beigel, 35; wrestling coach Chris Hixon, 49; and assistant football coach Aaron Feis, 37, were also killed – each while running into danger or trying to help students secure. After the shooting, Cruz dropped his weapon, the other cartridges and his regular vest and fled, while at 14:27 p.m. with other students, Satz said. He was arrested that afternoon, about 3 miles from the school.
At the October hearing, Cruz responded “guilty” to each of the 34 charges he faced before addressing the victims and their families in a brief statement to the court.
“I’m very sorry for what I did,” he said, in part, “and I have to live with it every day.”
Cruz’s apology, however, did not comfort the parent of a slain student, who called it “ridiculous.”
“I think he deserves as much opportunity as he gave my daughter and everyone else on February 14, 2018,” Gina Montalto’s father, Tony Montalto, said when asked about Cruz facing the death penalty. Cruz has already been sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting a jailer in November 2018.

Awarding millions to the families of victims in civil cases

The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a rally in Parkland, a small Florida town about 50 miles north of Miami. In the weeks that followed, survivors and relatives of the victims spoke and confronted lawmakers, calling for more action to address armed violence in American schools. Students from all over the United States joined them, staging their own protests and dropping out of school. The movement peaked just over a month after the March for Our Lives massacre, as hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in hundreds across the country calling for arms control reform. “Never Again”, the protesters shouted. While the full impact of the movement is difficult to quantify, a year after the massacre, at least 67 new gun safety laws were enacted in 26 states, Giffords Legal Center Prevent Gun Violence said at the time. However, school shootings continued, with about 130 enrolled on U.S. campuses with K-12 students from Parkland, according to a CNN report. However, the activism inspired by the Parkland shootings also continued. Last month, on the fourth anniversary of March For Our Lives in Washington, D.C., activists chanted “Thoughts and Prayers” at the National Mall using more than 1,100 body bags, CNN affiliate WJLA reported. Each represented lives that the organization said were lost in Parkland gun-related deaths. The civil cases brought by the families of the Parkland victims have also been settled. The US Department of Justice has settled 40 civil cases that resulted from the shooting for $ 127.5 million, it said in a statement last month, adding that the settlement “does not amount to an admission of guilt by the United States.” The FBI acknowledged after the shooting that it had failed to heed advice on “the possibility (of Cruz) shooting a school”, among other concerns. Broward County Public Schools, the county that includes Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, announced in December it would pay more than $ 26 million to 51 plaintiffs, including those injured and the families of the 17 people killed. “While acknowledging that no amount of money can make these families whole, the school committee hopes this arrangement will demonstrate our heartfelt commitment to MSD families, students, staff and faculty, and the community as a whole. of Broward County, ”said the attorney general.
Meanwhile, Deputy County Sheriff Broward Scot Peterson, a school resource officer who has been criticized for failing to confront Cruz during the shooting, has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the mass shooting, including charges of child neglect crime. The trial is set for September. CNN’s Denise Royal contributed to this report.