FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Some Parkland families became increasingly upset Thursday as the judge, one by one, read jurors' recommendation that school shooter Nikolas Cruz spend the rest of his life in prison — not be subject to the death penalty.
Under Florida law, a death sentence requires a unanimous vote on at least one count. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer will formally issue the life sentences Nov. 1.
The jury's recommendation followed seven hours of deliberation that began Wednesday, ending a three-month penalty trial.
"Today’s ruling was yet another gut punch for so many of us who devastatingly lost our loved ones on that tragic Valentine’s Day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School," Tony Montalto, the father of Gina Montalto and President of Stand with Parkland, said in a statement. “17 beautiful lives were cut short, by murder, and the monster that killed them gets to live to see another day.
"While this sentence fails to punish the perpetrator to the fullest extent of the law — it will not stop our mission to effect positive change at a federal, state and local level to prevent school shooting tragedies from shattering other American families."
Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty a year ago to murdering 14 students and three staff members and wounding 17 others on Feb. 14, 2018. Cruz said he chose Valentine's Day to make it impossible for Stoneman Douglas students to celebrate the holiday ever again.
The parents of Alyssa Alhadeff, who died in the shooting, said they were both "beyond disappointed" and "disgusted" with the jurors' verdict. Alyssa's mother, Lori, told reporters she didn't have a doubt in her mind the jury would come back with the death sentence.
Lori pleaded that Cruz's photo not be shown anymore so as not to give him any more notoriety. Lori started the nonprofit Make Our Schools Safe and was later elected to the Broward County School Board.
"What is the death penalty for?" said Alyssa's father, Ilan, wondering aloud what the point of the death penalty was if it wasn't used to punish someone who gunned down 17 people.
Ilan said the jurors' rejection of the death penalty is a "stain" on this world and in Broward County.
"I don't care who you are, there's no way that you can look at those mitigating circumstances and believe for one second that they outweigh the aggravators and that the life of that person is more important and more valuable than the [lives] of the 17 that were taken — and all of the other people that lived through that trauma every single day," said Debra Hixon, who's husband, high school athletic director Chris Hixon, was killed in the shooting.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.