Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Parkland school shooter

Lead Prosecutor Mike Satz along with his team commenced with their case against the Parkland Shooter, Nikolas Cruz on Monday. Satz said that due to the planning required and the lack of mercy shown, Cruz deserves to receive the death penalty.

“I’m going to speak to you about the unspeakable,” Satz said, per the New York Post. “About this defendant’s goal-directed, planned, systematic murder — mass murder — of 14 children, an athletic director, a teacher and a coach.”

Satz went onto layout evidence that the attack was planned in advance. “I think it’s going to be a big event,” Satz said, reading Cruz’s words prior to the shooting. “And when you see me on the news, you’ll know who I am. You’re all going to die. Oh yeah, I can’t wait.” Satz described the words as “Cold, calculating, malicious and deadly.”

The prosection also went into detail about how Cruz shot the 14 students and 3 staff members who died. They went through the 7-minute timeline where Cruz walked through the school with his AR-15 semi-automatic firearm.

Witness Danielle Gilbert spoke about her personal experience of the shooting. “We were sitting like sitting ducks. We had no way to protect ourselves,” said Gilbert.

A video was also shown in court, which was taken by Gilbert’s cellphone.  In the video, a boy who was out of shot can be heard shouting “Someone help me.” Another boy can be heard whispering “They’re coming, they’re coming, we’re OK.”

A student who encountered Cruz not long before the shooting started recalls him saying “‘Get out of here. Things are going to get bad.’”

Cruz has already pleaded guilty to both murder and attempted murder. The only thing he is contesting now is his sentence. Cruz’s legal team are requesting life in prison instead of the death penalty due to trauma Cruz has encountered during his life.

Prosecutor Satz refuted this and has said that no amount of trauma can justify the actions of Cruz.

“These aggravating factors far outweigh any mitigating circumstances,” he said. “Anything about the defendant’s background. Anything about his childhood. Anything about his schooling. Anything about his mental health. Anything about his therapy. Anything about his care.”