After pleading guilty to killing 14 students and three teachers at a Florida high school in 2018, school shooter Nikolas Cruz might face the death sentence.<\/p>\n
On February 14, 2018, Cruz opened fire at a high school in Parkland, Florida.<\/p>\n
He pled guilty to all 17 murders and 17 attempted murders of those who survived the atrocious attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.<\/p>\n
Florida authorities are seeking the death penalty.<\/p>\n
Then 19, Cruz entered the school with a legally bought semiautomatic weapon and killed 17 people on Valentines’ Day 2018.<\/p>\n
Mobile phone footage filmed by survivors showed Cruz warning his victims: “You’re all going to die.”<\/p>\n
Judge Elizabeth Scherer read the victim’s names one by one as he repeated “guilty” after every one. That included the 14 students he killed, 3 teachers and 17 shooting victims who survived the onslaught.<\/p>\n
Cruz’s guilty plea will help him in his effort to avoid the death penalty.<\/p>\n
From the beginning of the trial three years ago, Cruz’s lawyer said he would plead guilty in order to seek life imprisonment – rather than death.<\/p>\n
State attorney Michael J Satz said he will be pursuing the death penalty.<\/p>\n
Legal experts believe a guilty plea can help avoid that fate.<\/p>\n
Cruz told the court he was truly sorry for the shootings.<\/p>\n
He addressed the judge and said: “I am very sorry for what I did and have to live with it every day.<\/p>\n
“If I were to get a second chance, I would do everything in my power to help others.”<\/p>\n
The new charges add to Cruz’s legal problems after he attacked a prison guard.<\/p>\n
Cruz was given a 26-year sentence last week for attacking a jailhouse guard nine months after the school shooting.<\/p>\n
That ruling could be an “aggravating factor” behind giving Cruz the death penalty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After pleading guilty to killing 14 students and three teachers at a Florida high school in 2018, school shooter Nikolas Cruz might face the death sentence. On February 14, 2018, Cruz opened fire at a high school in Parkland, Florida. He pled guilty to all 17 murders and 17 attempted murders of those who survived […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":96112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_bookmark_settings":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[20373,494,424,20371,10562,20372],"class_list":["post-96110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us","tag-17-students-and-teachers","tag-killed","tag-murder","tag-nikolas-cruz","tag-pleads-guilty","tag-school-shooter"],"yoast_head":"\n