Parkland teacher faces down Nikolas Cruz at sentencing hearing: ‘You don’t know me, but you tried to kill me’

Stacey Lippel said that there was no forgiveness in her heart for Cruz

A teacher who was injured during the Parkland shooting directly addressed Nikolas Cruz during his sentencing.

Stacey Lippel, a teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, gave a powerful victim statement during Cruz’s first day of sentencing on Tuesday. Ms Lippel recounted the horrific Valentine’s Day in 2018 when Cruz stormed inside the school and killed 17 people.

“You don’t know me, but you tried to kill me,” Ms Lippel said, per CBS. “I will have a scar on my arm and the memory of you pointing your gun at me ingrained in my brain forever.”

The educator, who was lauded by Judge Elizabeth Scherer for her heroism on the day of the violence, said the lingering trauma after the attack had cost her friendships and her piece of mind. She spoke of an “underlying sadness within me that is never quite gone,” and said that there was no forgiveness in her heart for Cruz.

“The person I was on Wednesday, February 14, 2018, is not the same one who stands here today,” she continued. “I used to be eternally happy and relatively carefree, but now, I have worries and fears that seem unreasonable to most.”

Ms Lippel, whose children were at the school while the massacre took place, said that her family had also been robbed of their innocence along with that of the loved ones of those killed and the 16 others who were injured.

“The scars inside of me are those of horror and guilt,” she said, looking at an unemotional Cruz. “Horror at the memories of what you left behind in your wake and the guilt that I am left with because I wish I could’ve done more to save my co-workers and students who you killed.”

She also described being constantly tormented by memories of the traumatic experience at night and during the day, and said that she now prepares herself for the worst-case scenario, fearing that something terrible could happen any minute.

“Because of you, I check for exits wherever I am,” Ms Lippel said. “Because of you, I think of the worst-case scenario for me and my family. Because of you, I will never feel safe again.”

Stacey Lippel, a teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland who was injured during the attack, addressed Cruz (CBS/Screengrab)

Ms Lippel said the opportunity to give a victim impact statement was “just a crumb of closure” and called the jury’s non-unanimous decision to spare Cruz from the death penalty “disgusting.”

“You do not deserve the best-case scenario under any circumstance. The idea that you, a cold-blooded killer can actually live each day, eat each meal and put your head down at night seems completely unjust,” she said. “The only comfort I have is that your life in prison will be filled with horror and fear. So my hope for you is that you die sooner rather than later.”

Cruz travelled to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day 2018 armed with an AR-15. He murdered 14 students and three staff members and injured 17 others. In October 2021, Cruz pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.

On 13 October, a trial jury found that “especially heinous” aggravating factors necessary to reach a verdict of death had been proved during the trial, but three jurors found they were not outweighed by mitigating circumstances.

Cruz’s attorney, Melisa McNeill blamed his birth mother’s excessive drinking during pregnancy, which left him with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

Under Florida law, all members of the jury must agree on the death penalty or the sentence automatically becomes a life sentence.

Cruz’s sentencing will resume on Wednesday. He will be formally handed down a life sentence without the possibility of parole.