As families testify, Parkland shooter stares down life term

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – More loved ones of the 17 people murdered by Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz got their chance after almost five years to verbally thrash him face to face Wednesday in the second day of a hearing that will end with Cruz formally sentenced to life without parole.

“It was extremely painful to hear all the horrific details of this massacre at our children’s high school,” Annika Dworet, who with her husband, Mitch, attended every day of Cruz’s trial. “Just to be in the same room as this monster who killed our son Nicholas and attempted to murder our son Alex. It’s unbearable.”

She continued, “One of the most disgusting and unprofessional actions that occurred in this courtroom was the defense team holding, touching and giggling with this cold-blooded murderer.”

Cruz, shackled and wearing a red jail jumpsuit, stared at the speakers but showed little emotion, as he did the day before.

When Jennifer Guttenberg, mother of victim Jaime Guttenberg, got up to speak, she started by admonishing Cruz for hiding his face and expressions behind a blue COVID mask, prompting Cruz to remove the face covering.

Cruz was convicted of the Valentine’s Day 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in suburban Fort Lauderdale. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer has no choice but to impose that sentence, as the jury in Cruz’s penalty trial could not unanimously agree that he deserved the death penalty.

Members of the victims’ families and some of the 17 wounded who survived went to a lectern about 20 feet (6 meters) from Cruz on Tuesday, stared him in the eye and let out their anger and grief, with many telling the 24-year-old they hope his remaining years are filled with the fear and pain he inflicted. Many also criticized a Florida law that requires jury unanimity for a death sentence to be imposed — Cruz’s jurors voted 9-3 on Oct. 13 for his execution.

Those speaking to Cruz followed the same theme as family members who spoke Tuesday.

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“You deserve the opportunity to rot away,” David Alhadeff, the uncle of Alyssa Alhadeff, told Cruz via Zoom from his classroom in Maryland. “You deserve the opportunity to absorb the look of terror on your face once you leave this courtroom. You deserve the opportunity of knowing that justice will prevail at some point, causing you great anguish, minute by minute, day by day.”

Cruz, a former Stoneman Douglas student and then 19, wore a school shirt so that he could blend in with fleeing students as he escaped. He was arrested an hour later.

Thomas Hixon’s father, athletic director Chris Hixon, was shot when he burst through a door and ran at Cruz, trying to stop him. The Navy veteran fell wounded on the floor and tried to take cover in an alcove, but Cruz walked over and shot him again.

Thomas Hixon, a Marine veteran, recalled Tuesday that Cruz claimed remorse a year ago when he pleaded guilty to the murders, setting the stage for the penalty trial.

“Where was your remorse when you saw my father injured and bleeding on the floor and decided to shoot him for a third time?” Hixon told Cruz. “Your defense preyed on the idea of your humanity, but you had none for those you encountered on Feb. 14.”

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AP writer Freida Frisaro in Miami contributed to this report.