Nikolas Cruz: Perpetrator of Parkland School Massacre in USA Pleads Guilty to All Charges
The perpetrator of the Parkland, Florida student massacre pleaded guilty to all counts Wednesday.
Nikolas Cruz, 23, agreed before a judge to be the responsible for the death of 17 students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, a shooting that occurred in February 2018 that shocked the United States.
He also pleaded guilty to 17 counts of attempted murder for the wounded left behind when he opened fire at the school from which he had been expelled a year earlier.
Cruz was 19 years old when, armed with an AR-15 rifle, he entered the school and killed 14 students and three school employees. Another 17 people were injured.
In Florida court, Judge Elizabeth Scherer asked Cruz, one by one, how he testified about each murder.
The case now goes to other hearings where a jury will determine your punishment. Judge Scherer said she expects the process to begin in January.
Cruz faces a possible death penalty or life imprisonment without parole.
Your defense
Attorneys representing Cruz announced that their client would plead guilty if the death penalty was not considered.
Last week, their attorney, David Wheeler, told the judge that they were petitioning the court to impose 17 consecutive life sentences as punishment.
The offer was rejected by prosecutors, who in court documents said they would seek the death penalty and prove that the crime “was especially heinous, heinous or cruel.”
In a parallel case, last week Cruz declared himself guilty of one count of attempted aggravated assault and three other felony charges stemming from an attack, nine months after the Parkland shooting, on a jail guard.
In a hearing last Friday, Cruz acknowledged that his conviction for the jail incident could become an “aggravating factor” in determining whether he will be sentenced to death.
A troubled student
Cruz had been expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2017.
The students and staff later described him as a troubled young man and an “outcast.”
He had previously been investigated by local police and the Department of Children and Family Services after posting self-harm videos on Snapchat.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) later admitted that did not properly track the tracks about Cruz the month before the shooting.
Many of the survivors of the shooting became prominent advocates of the laws to control the sale of weapons in the United States and have demanded that steps be taken to prevent similar incidents.
In an event marking the third anniversary of the shooting in February, US President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass reforms, including a ban on assault weapons and an end to legal immunity for gun manufacturers.
“We owe it to all of us who have lost already, all of those who stayed behind to make a change,” Biden said.
“The time to act is now”.
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