Parkland shooting - live: Jury mulls death penalty for Nikolas Cruz as trial set to resume on Monday

Deadliest mass shooting in US history ever to make it to trial goes before a jury

Parkland teacher tells court of moment students took cover in 2018 shooting

Nikolas Cruz, the man convicted of shooting dead 17 people and injuring 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on 14 February 2018, is facing the penalty phase of the trial for his crimes.

Cruz was 19 when he went on a shooting spree in what proved to be one of the deadliest school massacres in US history. He subsequently surrendered to police and pleaded guilty to 17 charges of first-degree murder and 17 of attempted murder.

Cruz was a student at the school with a string of disciplinary issues until February 2017, when he was sent to an adult learning centre.

He had arrived at the school with a legally purchased AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle and murdered 14 students and three staff members, injuring 17 more. The shooting sparked a nationwide protest movement demanding tighter gun control and school safety measures.

While prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Cruz, his attorneys are hoping for a life term.

WARNING - Graphic content: This blog contains testimony, descriptions, and audio content relating to the Parkland shooting.

Key Points

• 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018
• 12-member jury to weigh death penalty versus life in prison
• Survivors give emotional testimony about their experiences on day
• First officers on scene describe finding victims’ bodies

[23 July 2022 07:00 · Rachel Sharp]

School police didn’t stop shootings. So why did Biden give them $300m?

Campus police officers are often cited as an effective tool against gun violence. But the data shows they do little to stop school shootings — and often discriminate against students of colour.

The mass shooting in Parkland prompted Florida to require every public school in the state to have armed security personnel on campus to stop mass shootings, even though such security was present and failed at the school.

And it’s the same fix being put into place now, after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. That’s despite the fact that months of active shooter training, tens of thousands of dollars in security investments, and multiple armed police officers failed to stop gunman Salvador Ramos from entering Robb Elementary School and killing 21 people, and hundreds of officers failed to engage the 18-year-old for more than an hour as he continued shooting students inside.

The Independent’s Josh Marcus reports:

[23 July 2022 09:00 · Rachel Sharp]

Missed warning signs, failings, and lessons learned: What happened at Parkland

Almost 70 documented incidents of violence by age 19. Boasts online of being “the next school shooter”. Tips about threatening behaviour ignored by the FBI. Unlocked and unmanned gates at the school. Students and staff left to wander hallways while no active shooter alert was made. A school resource officer who hid from the gunfire for more than 45 minutes.

Nearly everything that could have gone wrong that day did.

It was Valentine’s Day 2018 and students and staff had gone to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, for the day’s classes as normal.

Some teenagers in the throes of young love had taken in flowers and cards to give to their crushes. Then, that afternoon, everything changed.

At around 2.19pm, 19-year-old former student Nikolas Cruz took an Uber to the school carrying an AR-15 and a bag full of hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

In less than four minutes, he had murdered 17 students and staff members.

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, launched in the aftermath to investigate both the shooting and the response to it, made several recommendations of what must change going forwards.

The investigation found that there were catastrophic errors in the response to Cruz’s actions that day.

And, ahead of the day itself, a whole host of disturbing warning signs had also been ignored about what Cruz would go on to do.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:

[23 July 2022 10:00 · Rachel Sharp]

Remembering the victims of the massacre

On 14 February 2018, 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were murdered in one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history.

The 14 students killed were: Alyssa Alhadeff, Martin Duque, Nicholas Dworet, Jaime Guttenberg, Luke Hoyer, Cara Loughran, Gina Montalto, Joaquin Oliver, Alaina Petty, Meadow Pollack, Helena Ramsay, Alex Schachter, Carmen Schentrup and Peter Wang.

The three adults killed were: Scott Beigel, Chris Hixon and Aaron Feis.

Here are their stories:

[23 July 2022 11:00 · Rachel Sharp]

Watch: Chilling footage of Cruz going to McDonald’s after massacre

In court on Thursday, jurors were shown chilling surveillance footage of Cruz entering a McDonald’s and sitting down in a booth directly opposite John Wilford – a student whose sister he had just shot minutes earlier.

Watch the footage here:

[23 July 2022 12:00 · Rachel Sharp]

David Hogg thrown out of House gun meeting

Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg was thrown out of a House Judiciary Committee meeting about gun control on Wednesday after he confronted a GOP lawmaker about “reiterating the points of mass shooters”.

Mr Hogg, a prominent gun safety advocate, was in the gallery of the meeting as Republican Rep Andy Biggs claimed that residents in his state of Arizona need assault weapons to defend themselves against the “invasion” of immigrants.

As he made his comments, Mr Hogg rose to his feet and passionately interrupted proceedings telling him that his claims echoed comments made by several mass killers.

“You’re reiterating the points of mass shooters in your manifesto!” he shouted.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:

[23 July 2022 13:00 · Rachel Sharp]

Widow of Parkland hero opens up about trauma

Last Thursday, Debbi Hixon should have been celebrating her 32nd wedding anniversary with her husband.

Instead, she was preparing herself to come face to face with his killer in court.

On 14 February 2018, Chris Hixon was murdered along with 16 other people in the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.

More than four years later, Nikolas Cruz is finally in court for his sentencing hearing where a jury will decide if he should face life in prison or death for the heinous killings.

Debbi tells The Independent how she hopes the trial will finally enable her family to start to grieve.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:

[23 July 2022 14:00 · Rachel Sharp]

Day five recap: Harrowing testimony as officers describe finding bodies and pathologist details gunshot wounds

Harrowing testimony was heard in court on Friday as police officers described finding the bodies of innocent students and staff who had been slaughtered moments earlier in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The sentencing trial for mass killer Nikolas Cruz began on Monday with prosecutors calling survivors and witnesses to the stand throughout the week as the jury weighs whether to sentence him to death or to life in prison.

Day five of the trial focused on the first-hand accounts of some of the first law enforcement officers who arrived on the scene of the massacre in Parkland, Florida, back on 14 February 2018 as well as the graphic autopsy findings of some of the victims.

Detective David Alfin from Coral Springs Police Department recounted the moments when he found the bodies of 14-year-old Jaime Guttenberg and 17-year-old Joaquin Oliver inside the school building.

The officer, who testified that he believes he was the first officer to reach the third floor hallway, spoke of the sobering moment that he then had to move the boy’s lifeless body.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:

[23 July 2022 16:00 · Megan Sheets]

Detective describes finding victims’ bodies

Much of the heartbreaking testimony on the fifth day of Cruz’s sentencing trial came from Detective David Alfin, who arrived at the school about 20 minutes after the shooting began.

After entering the freshman building where the shooting took place, he headed up to the third floor with some fellow officers.

When they entered the hallway from the west side, he testified that he saw the gunman’s tactical vest and AR-15 rifle placed on top of it.

Cruz had abandoned his weapon at the scene and then fled the school – hiding in plain sight among terrified students evacuating the campus.

Detective Alfin testified that he then saw the body of freshman student Jaime Guttenberg to his left.

The officer described how he checked Jaime’s pulse and vital signs but discovered she was already dead.

Jaime’s father Fred Guttenberg was seen wiping tears from his eyes and bowing his head as he sat in the public gallery listening to the officer’s testimony about his daughter.

[23 July 2022 18:00 · Megan Sheets]

Sergeant tells of gravely wounded student reaching for help

Also on Friday, Broward Sheriff’s Sgt Richard Van Der Eems testified about how he found a surviving victim amid the chaos, with the gravely injured student desperately trying to get the attention of rescuers.

He told the court that he entered the building through the east side and saw “a child dead on the ground and smoke and dust in the air” on the first floor.

Sgt Van Der Eems and other law enforcement officers cleared survivors out of one of the rooms and he then went up the stairs to the third floor.

“We looked down the halfway and there was a child all the way at the other end,” he said.

“He was trying to raise his hand up and he was trying to say something.

“But he kept trying to raise his hand up so that we could see he was alive.”

He said that he and his fellow officers grabbed the boy – identified as Anthony Borges – and took him to a medic.

When he went back, he found the bodies of two more victims – 14-year-old Cara Loughran and 18-year-old Meadow Pollack – inside the alcove of the bathroom doorway.

[23 July 2022 20:00 · Megan Sheets]

Chilling surveillance video shows Cruz at McDonald’s after shooting

On day four of Cruz’s sentencing trial, jurors were shown surveillance footage of the Cruz in the aftermath of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on 14 February 2018.

After murdering 17 innocent students and staff and wounding dozens more, Cruz fled the school grounds by hiding in plain sight among the terrified students.

He then casually walked to a nearby Subway for a drink and then onto a McDonald’s, where – unbeknown to both at the time – he sat directly opposite the brother of one of the innocent students he had just shot.

Surveillance footage from inside the McDonald’s captured the encounter between Cruz and John Wilford inside the fast food joint around 30 minutes after the mass shooting.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports: