Parkland shooting - live: Jury mulls death penalty for Nikolas Cruz as trial set to resume on Monday

Deadliest mass shooting in US history ever to make it to trial goes before a jury

Parkland teacher tells court of moment students took cover in 2018 shooting

Nikolas Cruz, the man convicted of shooting dead 17 people and injuring 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on 14 February 2018, is facing the penalty phase of the trial for his crimes.

Cruz was 19 when he went on a shooting spree in what proved to be one of the deadliest school massacres in US history. He subsequently surrendered to police and pleaded guilty to 17 charges of first-degree murder and 17 of attempted murder.

Cruz was a student at the school with a string of disciplinary issues until February 2017, when he was sent to an adult learning centre.

He had arrived at the school with a legally purchased AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle and murdered 14 students and three staff members, injuring 17 more. The shooting sparked a nationwide protest movement demanding tighter gun control and school safety measures.

While prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Cruz, his attorneys are hoping for a life term.

WARNING - Graphic content: This blog contains testimony, descriptions, and audio content relating to the Parkland shooting.

Key Points

• 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018
• 12-member jury to weigh death penalty versus life in prison
• Survivors give emotional testimony about their experiences on day
• First officers on scene describe finding victims’ bodies

[25 July 2022 07:19 · Alisha Rahaman Sarkar]

Data says police don’t stop school shootings. Biden gave them $300m

When it comes to gun violence in America, the clock seems stuck.

The same horrific tragedies occur. The same debates are had. The same solutions are proposed. The same actions are taken. The same tragedies occur once more.

That sense of deja vu is especially palpable when it comes to one of the thorniest parts of the school safety debate: on-campus police.

Campus police officers are often cited as an effective tool against gun violence. But the data shows they do little to stop school shootings — and often discriminate against students of colour.

Josh Marcus reports.

[25 July 2022 08:00 · Megan Sheets]

ICYMI: Cruz hides his face as trial shown horrific videos of massacre

On the first day of his sentencing trial, Cruz appeared unable to face his own crimes as he buried his head in his hands while horrific videos of his massacre were played in court.

The Independent’s Josh Marcus reports:

[25 July 2022 11:00 · Megan Sheets]

Timeline of the Parkland shooting

The Independent’s Joe Sommerlad breaks down how the Parkland shooting unfolded:

[25 July 2022 12:54 · Johanna Chisholm]

Widow of Parkland victim opens up about the trauma of the 2018 mass shooting

On 14 February 2018, Chris Hixon was murdered along with 16 other people in the mass shooting in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Debbi Hixon, his wife, hopes the sentencing trial of Nikolas Cruz, who could face life in prison or death for the heinous killings, can finally help her family begin the grieving process.

“I try to explain to people when they say ‘how are you doing on the grieving process?’ that I don’t think – until we get to the other side of the trial – any of us have even got to the true start of the grieving process,” she tells The Independent.

“We live it every day. It’s a movie that runs in my head all the time.

“I don’t even know if we will have closure at the end of it but it’s just been constant anticipation as we knew that we would have to see him in court and see him on TV,” she said.

Keep reading the full exclusive interview with The Independent’s Rachel Sharp below:

[25 July 2022 14:02 · Johanna Chisholm]

School police didn’t stop Parkland or Uvalde shootings. Why did Biden give them $300m?

The reoccurring tragedy that surrounds mass shootings in the US often dredges up a dreaded sense of deja vu.

There’s the inevitable thoughts and prayers, political grandstanding, and proposed solutions, but the shootings still occur.

That sense of deja vu is especially palpable when it comes to one of the thorniest parts of the school safety debate: on-campus police.

Last week, the penalty phase began in the trial of Nikolas Cruz, who shot and killed 17 people and injured numerous others in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas school massacre in Parkland, Florida.

That shooting prompted Florida to require every public school in the state to have armed security personnel on campus to stop mass shootings, even though such security was present and failed at Parkland.

The much-touted bipartisan gun deal President Joe Biden signed in June doubles funding for school police and other school security measures, investing $300m more in federal anti-violence grants.

However, even as the use of so-called “school resource officers” (SROs) has exploded in recent years, data shows the added boots on the ground have done little to stop more mass shootings on campus. Instead, by connecting schools directly to agents of the criminal justice system, school officials seem to have inadvertently imported all the racial biases of mass incarceration along with them.

Read the full deep dive from my colleague Josh Marcus below:

[25 July 2022 15:04 · Johanna Chisholm]

That ends The Independent’s live coverage of the penalty phase of the trial for Nikolas Cruz’s crimes. Stay with The Independent for more updates.