Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz pleads guilty, says he’s ‘very sorry’
Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing 17 people in the 2018 massacre at his former high school — before apologizing for the rampage and going on a bizarre rant about marijuana and racism.
“I am very sorry for what I did and I have to live with it every day,” Cruz, 23, told Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer.
“And that if I were to get a second chance, I would do everything in my power to try to help others. And I am doing this for you, and I don’t care if you do not believe me.”
Cruz, who removed his mask to speak, said he was tormented by “nightmares” following the massacre and can’t “live with” himself sometimes. He was charged with 17 counts of first-degree murder for gunning down 14 students and three staffers on Feb. 14, 2018, using an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where he had been expelled a year earlier.
Some of the victims were shot as many as 12 times, prosecutors said.
“But I try to push through because I know that’s what you guys would want me to do,” Cruz continued.
“I hate drugs and I believe this country would do better if everyone would stop smoking marijuana and doing all these drugs and causing racism and violence out on the streets.”
Cruz had previously told investigators in 2018 that he was a heavy marijuana user and had heard voices in his head telling him to “burn, kill, destroy,” NBC News reported. He had also taken large amounts of Xanax and said he tried to kill himself two months before the massacre – adding that it wasn’t his first suicide try.
Cruz then wrapped up his rambling mea culpa, saying he was trying his best to maintain his composure.
“I just want you to know that I’m really sorry and I hope you give me a chance to try to help others,” the confessed mass murderer said.
Tony Montalto, whose 14-year-old daughter Gina was killed in the onslaught, called Cruz’s remarks an “absolutely ridiculous statement,” the Miami Herald reported.
“He’s doing it for our families?” Montalto told reporters after attending the hearing. “If you wanted to do something for our families, you shouldn’t have killed our loved ones.”
Tom Hoyer, whose 15-year-old son Luke was killed, said Cruz only had one person in mind with his statement.
“Self-centered,” Hoyer said. “Thinking about himself.”
Other relatives of victims who sat in the courtroom broke down in tears or shook their heads as Cruz entered his pleas and spoke.
Cruz also pleaded guilty to 17 counts of first-degree attempted murder for wounding 17 others during the massacre at the high school outside Fort Lauderdale. He was 19 at the time.
The guilty pleas now set up a penalty trial during which jurors will determine whether he will be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole.
Scherer began the hearing by asking Cruz questions about his mental health and whether he was under the influence of drugs or had been diagnosed with any illnesses. He said he was having some anxiety, but understood Scherer’s questions.
Scherer said she accepted Cruz’s pleas in the case, as well as a guilty plea in a separate case for attacking a Broward County jail guard nine months after the massacre.
Cruz said he believes the families of the victims should make the decision whether he lives or dies. But Scherer told him state law mandates that a jury make that ruling.
The penalty phase is expected to start with jury selection on Jan. 4.
Mitch Dworet, father of slain 17-year-old Nicholas Dworet, also attended the hearing. He told the Herald last week that Cruz deserved to die.
“We want him to get the death penalty,” Dworet said last week after Cruz’s attorneys indicated he would change his plea in the high-profile case. “We want him to suffer.”
Andrew Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter Meadow was gunned down, was even more blunt as to how he thought the confessed killer should be punished following Wednesday’s hearing.
“Death by lethal injection seems too peaceful to me,” Pollack told the Associated Press. “I’d rather see a hanging in a public square.”
With Post wires
