By Mathew Romero
On February 14, 2018, shots were fired upon students and staff at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. Former student Nikolas Cruz shot and killed 17 people as well as injuring 17 others in the span of one hour. He fled the scene after unloading 15 10-round magazines and was later caught and arrested by Broward County Sheriff Police. The incident is known as one of the deadliest mass shootings to occur in history, beating the Columbine High School Massacre that killed 15 people back on April 20th, 1999. After the incident, a spree of gun laws were requested by the parents of the victims that passed away in the shooting. It came to a success with 14 Republican Governors passing 50 laws that ranged from the restriction of certain types of gun accessories to allowing authorities to disarm hostile people.
Later that same year, Nikolas Cruz was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder as well as 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder after he had confessed to the shooting. On March 13 of the same year, his prosecution filed for intended use of the death penalty against Cruz by the court. His initial verdict was postponed for a long period of time due to the Covid-19 pandemic. His death penalty trial started on July 18th, 2022 that focused on digital evidence such as the Google searches Cruz made prior to the shooting. His case was brought to a close in September on October 13th when judge Elizabeth Scherer recommended a sentence for Nikolas Cruz of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The following month on November 2nd, 2022, Nikolas Cruz was officially sentenced to 34 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. The parents of the shooting victims were left in disbelief after hearing the official verdict as they wanted Cruz to face the death penalty. Cruz’s aggravating factors weren’t enough to outweigh the mitigating factors which is why he wasn’t sentenced to death and his case has continued to be criticized by people throughout the nation.
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