Families ‘disgusted’ as Parkland shooter is spared death sentence

"This is insane. Everyone knows right? This is insane," said Chen Wang, cousin of one of the victims Peter Wang. "We need justice."

Nikolas Cruz, the gunman who was responsible for killing 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida was granted life in prison without parole on Thursday.

The jury made the decision after seven hours of deliberation over the span of two days, bringing the three-month trial to a close. View the nearly hour-long video from FOX below:

The victims’ families, however, are disappointed.

“This is insane. Everyone knows right? This is insane,” said Chen Wang, cousin of one of the victims Peter Wang. “We need justice.”

“I’m disgusted with those jurors. I’m disgusted with the system,” said Ilan Alhadeff, who lost his daughter Alyssa in the shooting. “That you can allow 17 dead and 17 others shot and wounded to not give the death penalty. What do we have a death penalty for?”

According to Florida law, issuing a death sentence requires unanimous agreement on at least one count.

“This should have been the death penalty 100%,” said Lori Alhadeff, Alyssa’s mother “I sent my daughter to school, and she was shot eight times.”

Ilan said the jurors’ decision set a dangerous precedent, urging listeners to “stand up and say, ‘That’s not OK.'”

He further explained that Cruz’s neurological differences don’t excuse the fact that he is responsible for the massacre of 17 innocent children.


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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also commented on the jury’s decision at a press conference in Cape Coral. “Massacring those students with premeditation and utter disregard for basic humanity” is cause for the death penalty, he said. “He’s guilty. Everybody knew that from the beginning. And yet it takes years and years in this legal system that is not serving the interests of victims. So I was very disappointed to see that.”

The Parkland shooting is the deadliest mass shooting to have ever been taken to trial in the United States, according to the Associated Press. There were at least nine other people who fatally shot at least 17 people that died during or after the massacre by suicide or by police.

The gunman of the Walmart massacre in 2019 that killed 23 people in El, Paso Texas is awaiting trial.

Micah Ward
Micah Wardhttps://districtadministration.com
Micah Ward is a District Administration staff writer. He recently earned his master’s degree in Journalism at the University of Alabama. He spent his time during graduate school working on his master’s thesis. He’s also a self-taught guitarist who loves playing folk-style music.

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