Breaking: Parkland Florida shooter avoids death sentence

Mass school shooting in 2018 resulted in 17 deaths including the athletic director, two coaches and several athletes at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA – Nikolas Cruz, who pleaded guilty last October to all charges related to a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which took place on February 14, 2018, has avoided the death sentence after a Florida jury recommended that he be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, Thursday morning.

Under Florida law, Judge Elizabeth Scherer cannot depart from the jury’s recommendation. She has scheduled a sentencing hearing for Nov. 1. At that time, victims of the families will be allowed to make statements in court.

The mass shooting, which is the deadliest high school shooting in United States history, horrified the nation and devastated the Parkland community as well as the families associated with Stoneman Douglas.

The Eagles’ athletic program was especially impacted as athletic director Chris Hixon, 49, a Navy veteran, and assistant football coach Aaron Fees, 37, who was lauded as a hero for physically shielding students from the attack, were among those slain.

Also murdered were Scott Beigel, 35, a cross country coach, Alyssa Alhadeff, 14, a freshman soccer player on the girls varsity soccer team and Nicholas Dworet, 17, the swim team captain. Additional fatalities related to the athletic program included Gina Montalto, 14, a member of the schools color guard and Alex Schachter, 14, a member of the marching band.

The other fatal victims of the attack were all students:

Martin Durque, 14

Jaime Guttenberg 14

Luke Hoyer, 15

Cara Loughran, 14

Joaquinn Oliver, 17

Alaina Petty, 14

Meadow Pollack, 18

Helena Ramsay, 17

Carmen Schentrup, 16

Peter Wang, 15

Seventeen other individuals were injured in the attack.