Parkland survivor recalls Nikolas Cruz targeting him as he ran on a shattered ankle
A victim of the Parkland school shooting gave a horrific account in court Wednesday of being targeted by killer Nikolas Cruz while running for his life on a shattered ankle.
Kyle Laman recalled the tragedy at Cruz’s sentencing trial, telling jurors he was in a crowded hallway when the first gun shots went off during the Feb. 2018 massacre.
As students scampered in every direction, Laman said he froze and suddenly felt a burning sensation in his foot.
“I look down and see my ankle’s blown off to bits,” he said. “Obliterated.”
Laman said he and two friends frantically tried to devise an escape plan as earsplitting shots and screams echoed in the hallway.
“We’re going to die,” Laman said he told his friend.
Laman then peeked around a corner and saw Cruz unloading bullets into a classroom.
His friend, Joaquin Oliver, struggled to find refuge in a bathroom when it was locked. He was later killed.
Seeing that Cruz was still firing into the room, Laman saw his chance to flee.
“I was the only person in the hallway besides the gunman … at the time,” he said. “Besides the bodies on the floor. Since I was running, he targeted me, started shooting at me.”
Laman said he recalled four shots thudding into the walls around him as he ran.
Remarkably, he managed to rush down three flights of stairs and exit the building safely.
Now studying to become an EMT, Laman had four surgeries on his ankle and still suffers from the injury.
Laman shot a menacing stare at Cruz on his way out of court and made brief eye contact with his would-be killer.
Earlier, former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Veronica Steel recalled seeing teacher Scott Beigel shot dead in a doorway after he courageously unlocked his classroom to allow fleeing kids to enter.
Steel, who recorded cell phone video of the chaos, said she and other students scrambled for cover inside the heroic teacher’s classroom after shots rang out in a hallway.
“We were shielding ourselves with our backpacks and we had a clear view of the door and we noticed the door wasn’t closed,” Steel said.
“It was wide open. Our teacher, Beigel, was partially inside the classroom and his torso was outside the classroom. His body was blocking the door and holding it open. It was very scary for us.”
Cruz shot Beigel dead as he held the door open for his students to enter.
Prosecutor Mike Satz played Steel’s chilling video for jurors. Only the audio was available to the court gallery.
A voice can be heard wailing for help as students attempt to muffle their cries and whimpers while hunkering down.
Steel at one point identified Beigel’s body in the footage.
Kids can be heard screaming on the video after they were ushered out of the room by police. “Oh my God! Oh my God!” one voice cries out repeatedly.
In court, Cruz plugged his ears with his thumbs as the clip played.
Another student, Anthony Borges, said he called his father to say goodbye after Cruz shot him in the leg in a hallway during the rampage.
He was struck five times but managed to survive after enduring 14 surgeries. At Satz’s request, he showed the court bullet wounds to his back, leg and armpit.
Teacher Ernest Rospierski recalled seeing the lifeless body of student Jaime Guttenberg in a hallway after holding open a door for kids to escape.
Guttenberg’s father, Fred Guttenberg, has emerged as a vocal gun control proponent in the wake of his daughter’s death.
“I reached out and shook her, trying to get some sort of reaction,” Rospierski testified. “I got nothing. When I decided to run I didn’t try to grab her because quite frankly I didn’t think I could do anything.”
Agonized by the firsthand account of his daughter’s final moments, Guttenberg’s eyes watered in the gallery.
