The then 19-year-old shooter killed 17 people. The Parkland shooter now faces life imprisonment. Relatives had demanded the death penalty.
Fort Lauderdale/Washington – Four and a half years after the massacre at a school in the US city of Parkland, Florida, the perpetrator has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Judge Elizabeth Scherer read the verdict on Wednesday (local time) for 17 murders. An early release from prison is therefore not possible. In mid-October, a jury ruled against the death penalty and in favor of life imprisonment for 24-year-old Nikolas Cruz.
Parkland shooter sentenced to life in prison
Cruz was additionally sentenced to life imprisonment for each of the 17 wounded in the massacre he instigated. The waiver of the death penalty against Cruz had already sparked outrage among the families of the victims in October.
During the two-day pre-sentence hearing, parents and other relatives of several of the victims expressed their pain and anger directly to Cruz. “I hope that the pain for what you did to my family burns and traumatizes you every day,” said Lori Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter died in the massacre, according to National Public Radio (NPR). was killed.
The one back then 19-year-old Cruz had it on Valentine’s Day 2018 opened fire on students and teachers at his former school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, with a semi-automatic rifle. He killed 14 students and three school staff and injured 17 other people. The Parkland attack was one of the deadliest school shootings in US history.
Arrested shortly after the crime, Cruz pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder.
After Parkland school shooting: US citizens protest for stricter gun laws
The Parkland school massacre had caused horror beyond the United States. Shortly after the bloodbath, survivors of the attack launched a nationwide student movement calling for stricter gun ownership regulations. A month after the massacre, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in the US capital Washington at the “March for Our Lives”. However, tightening of the gun law remained largely absent.(afp)
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