‘Unspeakable’: Florida court hears horrific sounds of school shooting

Day one of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz’s trial has begun with prosecutors calling for the ultimate charge.

Selim Algar - New York Post

2 min read

July 19, 2022 - 12:32PM

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at his sentencing trial. Picture: Carline Jean/AFP

US prosecutors have called for the death penalty in the sentencing trial of Nikolas Cruz, after the youth admitted to killing 17 people in the 2018 Parkland school shooting

The shooting, which took place at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day in 2018, left another 17 people wounded.

In opening statements on Monday at the 23-year-old’s sentencing trial at Fort Lauderdale, lead prosecutor Mike Satz told jurors that the mass murderer’s premeditated attack warranted the death penalty rather than life without parole, the New York Post reports.

“I’m going to speak to you about the unspeakable,” Mr Satz told the court. “About this defendant’s goal-directed, planned, systematic murder – mass murder – of 14 children, an athletic director, a teacher and a coach.”

The prosecutor read out a message Cruz posted in the days before the shooting.

“I think it’s going to be a big event,” Mr Satz recited. “And when you see me on the news, you’ll know who I am. You’re all going to die. Oh yeah, I can’t wait.”

Nikolas Cruz in court on Monday. Picture: Carline Jean/AFP

“Cold, calculating, malicious and deadly,” the prosecutor said of the threat.

Cruz, then aged 19, systematically roamed the halls of his former school on February 14, 2018, with an AR-15 rifle, killing 14 students and three staff members as well as injuring another 17.

Mr Satz described the massacre to the court in detail, noting that Cruz even returned to some classrooms he had already attacked to “finish off” some of the wounded.

Nikolas Cruz killed 17 in the 2018 school massacre in Parkland. Picture: Joe Raedle/Getty Images, AFP

The gallery reacts as video and audio is played from inside a classroom during the shooting. Picture: Carline Jean/AFP

One student, Mr Satz said, was shot 13 times by the gunman.

Other victims were shot while staggering down hallways as they tried to escape.

Around 50 friends and family of Cruz’s victims watched on in the courtroom and many sat in tears as Mr Satz recounted the events of that day.

Video and audio taken by students from inside a classroom during the shooting was also played for the court.

Nikolas Cruz pictured in April 2018. Picture: Taimy Alvarez/AFP

Appearing slight and hunched in a sweater and large glasses, Cruz looked attentive during Monday’s proceeding, occasionally taking notes as his eyes darted around the courtroom.

While Mr Satz summarised his crimes in grisly detail, the defendant sporadically leaned over to confer with one of his lawyers.

Cruz has already pleaded guilty to the slayings and is now attempting to avoid the death penalty in favour of a life sentence.

Over the course of the trial, prosecutors will attempt to convince the seven men and five women of the jury to sentence him to death instead.

Students are evacuated by police after the Parkland shooting in 2018. Picture: Joe Raedle/Getty

Cruz’s lawyers are expected to cite his traumatic upbringing as a mitigating factor in the case, stressing that his childhood was mired in dysfunction, neglect and mental illness.

Mr Satz sought to pre-empt some of those arguments in his opening statement, asserting that no level of juvenile trauma can lighten the severity of Cruz’s crimes.

“These aggravating factors far outweigh any mitigating circumstances,” he said.

“Anything about the defendant’s background. Anything about his childhood. Anything about his schooling. Anything about his mental health. Anything about his therapy. Anything about his care.”