Parkland Families Condemn Jury Verdict of Life in Prison for Shooter: ‘The Monster that Killed Them Gets to Live Another Day’

The families of the victims of the Parkland shooting loudly condemned the jury verdict recommending life in prison on Wednesday.

The shooter, Nikolas Cruz, was 19 years old on Feb. 14, 2018 when he returned to his former high school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, with an AR-15 style rifle and multiple magazines to commit the deadliest mass shooting at a U.S. high school. [In accordance with the wishes expressed by numerous family members of the victims to not promote the shooter, that is the last time I will mention his name.]

The 17 people whose names should be remembered are, in alphabetical order, 14-year-old student Alyssa Alhadeff, 35-year-old teacher Scott Beigel, 14-year-old student Martin Duque Anguiano, 17-year-old student Nicholas Dworet, 37-year-old assistant football coach Aaron Feis, 14-year-old student Jaime Guttenberg, 49-year-old athletic director Christopher Hixon, 15-year-old student Luke Hoyer, 14-year-old student Cara Loughran, 14-year-old student Gina Montalto, 17-year-old student Joaquin Oliver, 14-year-old student Alaina Petty, 18-year-old student Meadow Pollack, 17-year-old student Helena Ramsay, 14-year-old student Alexander Schachter, 16-year-old student Carmen Schentrup, and 15-year-old student Peter Wang.

The shooter, now 24 years old, confessed and pled guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, so the trial only focused on the potential sentence. Under Florida law, first-degree murder has two possible penalties — the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole — and the jurors had to be unanimous in order to recommend the death penalty, after a balancing between mitigating circumstances presented by the defense and aggravating factors presented by the prosecution.

In the end, the jury verdict for each count found that the prosecution had proven one more aggravating factors beyond a reasonable doubt, but at least one juror found that they were outweighed by the mitigating circumstances. Judge Elizabeth Scherer will make the final decision on sentencing in a hearing scheduled for Nov. 1, but it is not expected that she will stray from the jury’s recommendation. The shooter will never be eligible for parole.

The news of the verdict was met with shock, grief, and anger from the family members of the victims, who could be observed in the courtroom crying and putting their heads in their hands as their loved ones’ names were read one by one, but the jury finding in each case that the mitigating circumstances outweighed the aggravating factors that made the case for the death penalty.

Max Schachter, father of Alex Schachter, tweeted that the shooter “got everything he wanted” with a life verdict, “[w]hile our loved ones are in the cemetery.”

Prior to the shooting the Parkland murderer said he wanted to kill 20 people. He stopped after killing 17 including my sweet little boy Alex. Afterwards he didn’t want to die. He wanted to live. Today he got everything he wanted. While our loved ones are in the cemetery.

— Max Schachter (@maxschachter) October 13, 2022

“It strains belief that 12 people could not agree that the heinous massacre of 14 children and 3 staff committed on Feb 14, 2018 demands justice,” Ryan Petty, father of Alaina Petty, told Mediaite. “Unlike the murderer, our loved ones were not given due process, a defense team paid for by taxpayers, experts to invent out of whole cloth mitigating circumstances to explain away his evil cruelty and the choice he made that day.”

A press conference with the family members of the victims is currently underway and is being streamed on the Law&Crime Network on YouTube.

“I’m not often stunned, but I am stunned,” said Fred Guttenberg, father of Jaime Guttenberg. “I could not be more disappointed.”

He said he was worried that the verdict “only makes it more likely that the next mass shooting will be attempted,” the next mass shooter was currently planning his attack, and “that person now believes that they can get away with it.”

“The monster is gonna go to prison, and in prison, I hope and pray, he receives the kind of mercy from prisoners that he showed to my daughter and the 16 others,” said Guttenberg. “He will die in prison, and I will be waiting to read that news on that.”

“He’s going to have to look over his shoulder every minute of the rest of his life,” said Linda Beigel Schulman, mother of teacher Scott Beigel. “The fear in him, I hope he has the fear in him every second of his life, just the way he gave that fear to every one of our loved ones who he murdered…he should live in that fear, and he should be afraid every second of the day of his life.”

“He should be afraid every second of the day of his life.” Linda Beigel Schulman reacts to the jury’s recommendation that the Parkland shooter will spend the rest of his life in jail. pic.twitter.com/EaKvMQedl5

— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) October 13, 2022

“I’m disgusted with our legal system and I’m disgusted with the jurors,” said Ilan Alhadeff, father of Alyssa Alhadeff. He asked rhetorically what the purpose of the death penalty could be if it was not for a case like this, and expressed his worries that the jury had “set a precedent, for the next mass killing, that nothing happens to you, you’ll get life in jail.”

“I’m sorry, that is not OK,” Alhadeff continued, his voice cracking with emotion. “As a country we need to stand up and say, that is not OK! I pray that that animal suffers every day of his life in jail. And he should have a short life.”

“I pray that that animal suffers everyday of his life in jail.” – Dr. Ilan Alhadeff, father of Alyssa Alhadeff, spoke to the media shortly after a jury recommended life for the Parkland school shooter. pic.twitter.com/rWTTcIpdSw

— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) October 13, 2022

A reported asked Alhadeff if he was “relieved” he would not have to see the shooter in court anymore, and he replied, “It doesn’t matter. We still have to go to the cemetery to see our daughter.”

Alyssa’s mother Lori Alhadeff added, “What is the death penalty for if not for the killing of 17 people?”

“It’s pretty unreal,” said Tony Montalto, father of Gina Montalto, that “nobody paid attention to the facts of this case, that nobody can remember who a victim is and what they look like.”

He called the verdict a “gut punch,” and said the shooter’s actions constituted a “heinous, pre-planned tortuous murder,” but “the monster that killed them gets to live another day.”

“Society has to really look and re-examine who and what is a victim,” he continued, remarking how the shooter had shot some of his victims more than once, circling back to make sure they were dead, pressing the barrel of his weapon against his daughter’s chest. “That doesn’t outweigh that poor little what’s-his-name had a tough upbringing?”

“Our justice system should have been used to punish this shooter to the fullest extent of the law, not as an act of revenge, but to protect our nation’s schools,” he said.

“Trade places with me, you’ll change your mind,” Montalto retorted to a reporter’s question about opposition to the death penalty.

“Gina, my beautiful, kind, bubbly, bright daughter, deserved better than she got,” he concluded. “From the schools, and certainly from this jury. From our sheriff’s office, she deserved better. Even from the FBI, who let us down. Let’s not forget all the failures that led to this day. But the failures wouldn’t have mattered if the shooter didn’t choose to pull that trigger 139 times, to make a voluntary effort to pull that trigger, spewing death from that gun every time he pulled the trigger.”

Watch the complete verdict and press conference with the victims’ families in the video above, via Law&Crime Network on YouTube.